Shortly after Christianity was legalized in the West (313 AD), Christians began to honor those believers who died in the faith. It was both a celebration of the number of martyrs who died for the faith during the Roman persecutions (late 200's, early 300's) as well as a time to remember those whom we know who died in the faith in the last year. This feast is what we today call All Saints Day, called in older times All Hallows Day (hallow, of course, coming from holy, as in the Lord's Prayer).

Early on, All Saints was celebrated on May 13th, but during the short time of Pope Gregory III (730's), he moved the day to November 1st to align with the foundation of a new chapel in St. Peter's (the Vatican) dedicated to all the saints/believers in heaven. As with most church feasts, we added the night before to the celebration, adding All Hallows Eve on October 31st (similar to Christmas Eve on December 24th and Holy Saturday before Easter) and All Souls Day (in some places) on November 2nd.

The term Halloween is a contraction of Hallows Evening: Hallow + E'en = Halloween.

Christians used to be much more open and honest about the reality of death than we are in our sterile, antiseptic 21st century American culture. After all, they were surrounded by death all the time, up front and personally. Taken together, these three days became a time to remember the reality of death and to celebrate Christ's victory over death for all who lived and died in faith. There was nothing grotesque or morbid about it. Life and death happened every day and were not anything unusual. If anything, our distance from death is what makes many recoil at a Church holy day remembering the faithful departed.

As far as I can tell, the tradition of dressing up on Halloween started sometime around the Reformation. Ghoulish costumes (by no means scary or gory by today's standards) were a visible reminder that death will one day take us all. Martin Luther is said to have encouraged ridiculous representations of Satan and demons because of his belief that the thing Satan hated most was being made fun of and mocked (his sin, after all was pride, and the proud hate being ridiculed). Jack-o-lanterns evolved to pumpkins from the Irish tradition of carving turnips (lame, ha ha). Trick-or-treating presumably came from an English tradition of going door to door asking for 'soul cakes' with the promise to pray for the departed family members of the givers.

I've read from anti-Halloween sources that the church took the pagan, Celtic holiday of Samhain and baptized it to make a church holiday; however, this has a few problems. There's no evidence that this Celtic holiday was known in Rome when the Pope moved All Saints Day to November. It appears to be a very localized observation, and the Pope specifically moved it around a church dedication. There also doesn't seem to be anyone making a connection between the two until about the time of the Reformation (honestly, as a die hard Protestant, it was probably propaganda from the Reformers trying to link paganism and anti-Christian practices with the Roman Catholic Church).

I think it's safe to say that Halloween has very strong Christian roots, and we should do a much better job teaching our own Christian history. I'd love to see Christians reclaim the original celebration for what it is...we need to do the same with Christmas, too! With that in mind, however, there is no denying that Halloween has been hijacked by secular and demonic influences and twisted into something that would be unrecognizable to our ancestors. More importantly, there are those today who definitely take it much too far into the realm of the dark and demonic...and we should by no means participate in that. All that to say, yes, I think we can celebrate Halloween, but we need to be discerning about how we do so. There's certainly much more danger in the demonic influences around Halloween than a Christ-less, secular Christmas. But just because things are abused doesn't mean we should throw them out. We should restore them. They are an important part of the faith.

#culture #festivals #theology

Some think they have no need for the liturgical calendar or that it is 'too Roman Catholic' or something. I think that attitude is a mistake. Everything on the Church calendar points us to Jesus and his saving work for us. On this day, we remember, marvel, and worship that God kept his promise made through the prophet Isaiah in a particular place and time in history. These words of the Prophet are not relegated to the lost recesses of the Old Testament but are front and center for our faith:

Moreover the LORD spoke again to Ahaz, saying, “Ask a sign for yourself from the LORD your God; ask it either in the depth or in the height above.” But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, nor will I test the LORD!”

Then he said, “Hear now, O house of David! Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. Curds and honey He shall eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the Child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that you dread will be forsaken by both her kings.

— Isaiah 7.10-16 (NKJV)

After hundreds of years, God's promise was coming to fruition. In exactly the right place and at exactly the right time, God sent his Son to be born of a woman to redeem fallen humanity, setting us free from the power of sin, death, and the devil. In contrast to Ahaz, who did not want to believe the Lord's word, Mary received it in faith, playing a crucial role in the salvation of humankind and serving as an example of faith for all to follow.

Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”

But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”

And the angel answered and said to her, ”The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.”

Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

— Luke 1.26-38 (NKJV)

As we consider the miracle of the Annunciation, may we be inspired by blessed Virgin's faith and may we be drawn to worship our Lord in awe and wonder through the rest of this Lenten season.

O Lord, as we have known the incarnation of Your Son, Jesus Christ, by the message of the angel to the virgin Mary, so by the message of His cross and passion bring us to the glory of His resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

#devotional #festivals #theology

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