Let's Pull the Mask from
HALLOWEEN
Every October 31, children across the land learn how extortion works
through one of the most popular of ancient, pagan festivals.
We know it as Halloween, which is a
shortened combination of the words "Hallowed" and
"evening." But there is nothing holy about this night.
"Trick or treat!" the bantam,
masked marauders cry as they go from door to door coercing goodies from mostly
compliant residents. Along with blackmail, the chance to deface private
property and get away with it is also a big part of the "hallowed
evening." Shaving cream, soap, and toilet paper are essential in the bag
of tricks some of the mischievous prepare especially for this weird, annual
rite.
Imagine trying to explain the whole scene
to a visitor from another planet!
Not Just for Children Anymore
Visit many offices and department stores on
October 31 and you'll see adult employees dressed in silly or grotesque
costumes, perhaps with painted faces and fluorescent green hair.
They
are psyching up for the Halloween party that night—when they'll get the chance
to act foolishly without embarrassment. It seems that as our world sinks deeper
into New Age paganism, this heathen, high holy day of
the occult has zoomed to the top of the holiday charts. In fact, among adults
Halloween is becoming as popular as Christmas.
But is Halloween just a harmless time of
fun for the whole family, where everyone can practice their pumpkin-carving
skills and then head for the store to try on this year's bizarre costumes?
It's time to rip the mask from Halloween
and expose it for what it is. What we find underneath should concern anyone who
professes a belief in the Bible.
Night of the Walking Dead
Rooted in Druidic demon worship 2,000 years
old, Halloween continues to cast its spell on modern peoples.
The ritual was not called Halloween when
the Celtic peoples of pre-Christian Ireland and Scotland observed it on
November 1. For them it was the Feast of Samhain (pronounced Sa-win), Lord of the Dead. This was also the beginning of the
Celtic new year, a time to give thanks to the sun god for the harvest.
But it was also a dreaded occasion when it
was believed time stood still and the souls of the dead walked abroad, mingling
with the living and playing malicious tricks on them. The Celts thought that
the sinful souls who died during the year had been transferred to the bodies of
animals. Through gifts and sacrifices these souls could be freed to claim a
heavenly reward. Samhain judged these souls and
decreed the form in which their existence was to continue—as animal or human.
The ghosts of the dead that were thought to
collect around houses of the living were greeted with banquet-laden tables.
(They thought spirits needed food.) When the feast was over, villagers donned
masks and costumes to represent the souls of the dead and paraded to the
outskirts of town to lead the ghosts away. Thus they thought they might avoid
any problems the roving spirits may cause them if they had not provided
sufficient sustenance. Such calamities included causing livestock to die,
turning milk sour, and spoiling food.
In some areas, food was set outside for the
spirits so that they would leave the house untouched. The trick-or-treat custom
re-enacts these ancient superstitions.
Amid all of this the Druids were offering
up sacrifices to the sun god. "It was common for horses to be sacrificed
since they were sacred to the Sun God. There were also human sacrifices. Men,
mostly criminals, were imprisoned in wicker and thatch cages shaped like
animals or giants. The Druid priests set fire to the tindery cages and the men were burned to death...In the Middle Ages in Europe, black
cats were still being thrown to the flames in wicker cages, for they were
thought to be the friends of witches or even transformed witches," Celebrations, The Complete Book of American
Holidays, 258.
From Samhain to All Saints' Day
So where does "Halloween" (the
Hallowed Evening) come in? The celebration in the Roman Catholic Church, which
was later to merge with Samhain, was known as All
Saints' Day. All Saints' Day originated in the 7th century when the Pantheon at
Rome was wrested from the barbarians, made into a cathedral, and renamed the
Church of the Blessed Virgin and All Martyrs. Thus, from honoring "all
gods" (which is the meaning of the Greek word "pantheon") the
Pantheon became the center for glorifying all saints. (Funk and Wagnalls Encyclopedia, Vol. 1,
p. 363).
This day that honored all the "hallowed"
saints was first observed on the evening of May 13, and was known as the All
hallows festival. The day was officially authorized in 835 by Pope Gregory IV
after it was moved to November 1 to coincide with Samhain.
It began on the evening of October 31, which was called All Hallows Eve.
Thus, without forcing the pagans to drop
their pagan practices and accept Christianity, the Roman church merely made
room to accommodate the barbarians.
Just as it confiscated the pagan Pantheon
for its own uses, this church incorporated the customs of Samhain to further its mission to convert the known world to Catholicism.
The two celebrations made strange
bedfellows: one in respect of evil spirits, the other honoring
"saints."
One writer noted, "The three days
between October 31 and November 2 see pagan and Christian celebrations
intertwined in a fascinating way. All Hallows Eve, usually called Hallowe'en, is followed by All Hallow's Day, which is also All Saints Day, and the three-day period is a perfect
example of superstition struggling with religious belief," Year of Festivals, p. 76.
Can we mix light with darkness? Is a little
compromise with idolatry acceptable to a holy Creator? Paul warns us, "But I say, that the things which the
Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to Elohim;
and I would not that you have fellowship with devils. You cannot drink the cup
of the Master, and the cup of devils: you cannot be partakers of the Master's
table, and of the table of devils," 1Corinthians 10:20-21.
Nevertheless, the joining of the two
celebrations produced a hybrid of beliefs about what was supposed to happen in
the spirit world. Souls in purgatory appeared as witches and toads to persons
who had wronged them. Halloween fires took on a new meaning and now were used
to comfort souls in purgatory as people prayed while holding burning straw in
the air.
Even the idea of trick-or-treating by evil
spirits took on an acceptable church flavor: costumed children went around on
All Souls Day offering to fast for the departed souls in return for money or an
offering.
As the Celts converted to the new religion,
they did not forget their stories of the dead traveling to the afterworld on
Halloween. Rather, exhibitions of this night became more evil and the
observance adopted even more malicious overtones.
Let's take a look at the familiar customs
of Halloween, and ask ourselves whether they are fit for a True Worshiper's
indulgence.
The Leering Jack-o-Lantern
In America it's a pumpkin, but in Europe it
was often a turnip, large beet, potato, rutabaga or even a skull with a candle
in it. The fearsome face of the jack-o-lantern was representative of the god of
the dead, Saman, who would drive off less powerful
evil spirits abroad that night.
As glimmering lights flickered over an
English marsh or an Irish bog, people imagined dead souls had returned to
earth. They would place the jack-o-lantern on posts and in windows to ward off
the spirits of the dead on Halloween.
The
word jack-o-Lantern is an abbreviation of "Jack of the Lantern." Jack
is another name for joker or Satan. In the Irish tale, a man named Jack was
fond of playing tricks on the devil. Annoyed, the devil tossed Jack a burning
coal from hell. With the coal in his "lantern" Jack was condemned to
walk the earth forever searching for rest.
The jack-o-lantern is a Halloween idol that
keeps alive an ancient symbol of demonic superstition.
Witches and Black Cats
A pagan practice that was not eradicated
upon the coming of Christianity was witchcraft. The word "witch"
comes from the Anglo-Saxon wicce, or "wise
one." Witches were thought to be possessors of magic.
Witches, who worship the deities of nature,
have living talismans or symbols through which they derive their dark powers.
They invoke evil spirits to enter the bodies of their talismans. Some have
dogs, owls, snakes or swine for their talismans, but the most common are cats.
Cats have been closely associated with
mystery religion from the Egyptians to the Norse. But the Celts had a
particular fear of cats, believing they were humans who had been changed into
feline form by evil powers. The black cat particularly was connected to demonic
powers.
Black cats are the chief idol of the goddess
of Wicca, Diana. In legend, she turns into a black cat to commit incest with
her brother, Lucifer.
Eventually the Druids themselves came to be
regarded as witches. Witch hunting during Halloween became almost a national
pastime in the colonial years of our nation.
But that was yesterday. Halloween is
regarded as the high "sabbath" for
practicing witches today.
Witchcraft is demonic worship in diametric
opposition to the worship of the Heavenly Father Yahweh. Yahweh minces no words
about it. He told Israel through Moses, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" (Ex.
22:18). He says in Deuteronomy 18:10, "There
shall not be found among you any one that makes his son or his daughter to pass
through the fire, or that uses divination, or an observer of times, or an
enchanter, or a witch."
How can a True Worshiper allow his son or
daughter to dress up in imitation of a witch or warlock, knowing that Yahweh
condemns witchcraft? We are commanded to avoid even the appearance of evil
(1Thes. 5:22).
Flying Witches
The broomstick is a symbol of the male
organ, on which the witch mounts and leaps high around the fields to
"teach" the crops how high to grow. (ABC's of Witchcraft, pp. 48-49.)
The notion of flying witches relates to the
fact that witches believed they could fly great distances to their feasts by
smearing their bodies with ointments containing drugs. The drugs gave them
psychedelic "trips" making them think they flew. (ABC's, pp. 142-146).
Shrouded in Blackness
"Orange, black, and red, the devil's
colors, are the colors associated with Halloween...," so says the Good Housekeeping Book of Entertainment,
p. 168. Black prefigures black magic and demonic influence. The black of night
is when these forces of evil are busiest, using the cover of darkness for their
sinister works.
Yahweh warns, "Woe unto them that seek deep
to hide their counsel from Yahweh, and their works are in the dark, and they
say, Who sees us? and who knows us?" (Isa. 29:15)
In John 3:19-20 Yahshua said, "And this is the condemnation, that light is
come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their
deeds were evil. For every one that does evil hates the light, neither comes to
the light, lest his deeds should be reproved."
How much time should any Bible believer
give to a rite that is observed in the dark and that revels in the colors,
symbols, and practices of Yahweh's adversary, Satan the devil?
Skulls and Skeletons
The skeleton is a form of the god of the
dead, the witches' "horned god." The Dictionary of Satanism by Wade
Baskin says this about skulls and skeletons under "skull worship":
"Skulls play an important role as sacred relics and as objects of worship
among primitives. Among Polynesians and Melanesians, skulls of ancestors are
worshiped in order to establish connections with the spirits of the dead. Like
the head of Osiris in Egypt, the skulls of ancestors may also serve as tutelar deities. The head or its parts, each of which may
stand for the whole, can be used as magical food or as a means of increasing
the fertility of the soil."
Under "Skull," the Dictionary of Lore and Legend says,
"Symbol of death, often with crossed bones beneath."
Isaiah tells us what Yahweh thinks of
courtship with death and the dead:
"When
men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists, who
whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their Elohim?
Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?" (Isa. 8:19-20, NIV).
Fire Rites
Being that Halloween is a Celtic new year's
festival, many of its surviving rituals trace to the Celtic feast. The fire
rite was practiced in many areas around the world on the night before the new
year. The old fire was allowed to go out and a new one was kindled—usually a sacred
fire from which the fires of the village were relit. The fires were thought to
rejuvenate the waning sun and aid in banishing evil spirits. The Druids built
hilltop fires to celebrate important festivals (Celebrations, pp. 258-259).
Ghosts and witches feared fire, it was
thought, and so fire became the best weapon against evil spirits. Witchcraft
was punished by burning at the stake, fire being used as a means purification.
The light that fires gave off was a sign of sacredness.
Apple Bobbing
Popular
at Halloween parties is apple bobbing. It was a means of divination among the
Druids and survives in cultures influenced by the Celts.
Because the apple is also a common love
charm, the practice of ducking for apples seems to have been associated with
the selection of a lover (see The
Folklore of American Holidays).
Apple bobbing was originally a fertility
rite deriving from the Christmas observance, which was replete with various
fertility rites (Send for our booklet, The
Untold Story of Christmas).
Selling Out to Sin
One of the perpetual failings of ancient
Israel was their inability to keep their worship pure. The record throughout
history has not been any different.
For those who are satisfied with less than
total truth, the concessions come easier.
Today we witness Easter egg hunts on church
lawns, Christmas trees in church vestibules, and Halloween parties in church
basements (on the pretext of keeping the children off unsafe streets and away
from tainted Halloween candy).
"It's just for the children,"
goes the rationalization. "We really just do it for them."
What our children practice they also learn
from. Why would we want to introduce to them pagan falsehoods? How can we
instill in them righteousness if we allow them to revel in ancient customs of
evil on Halloween? How can we promote healthy, decent values while allowing
them to don hideous masks of vile creatures or deformed humans—with the
underlying themes of murder, mayhem, and death?
Can we live a lie? Can we mix the holy with
the profane and expect to be blessed us? "Learn
not the way of the heathen!" He thunders in Jeremiah 10:2. “Come out from among them and be separate,
and touch not the unclean thing,” Paul writes in 2Corinthians 6:17.
Paul
also admonished, "Be not unequally
yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship has righteousness with
unrighteousness? and what communion has light with darkness?" (2Cor.
6:14)
Halloween has no redeeming value. It is one
big trick on an ignorant or indifferent society, and another victory for the
forces of darkness.
The Heavenly Father gives us a final
warning in the law about demonism and witchcraft: "For all that do these things are an abomination unto Yahweh: and
because of these abominations Yahweh your Elohim does
drive them out from before you. You shall be perfect with Yahweh your Elohim" (Deut. 18:10-13).
Why indulge in practices your Creator hates
and condemns? Drop the empty, senseless, heathen observances of man and resolve
to begin keeping the true holy days He has commanded in His Word. You'll be
blessed if you do!
© 2007 Yahweh’s Assembly in Yahshua
2963 County Road 233, Kingdom City, Missouri 65262
View us online at: www.YAIY.org
Call Toll Free:
Main Line:
Home | Newsletter | Literature | Sabbath Services | Links | Contact | Search
Copyright © 2007-2008 Yahweh's Assembly in Yahshua
All Rights Reserved