Halloween, seriously?

Will someone please prove to me that carving pumpkins is pagan, that trick-or-treating is pagan, and that Halloween is a completely pagan holiday that we as Christians are supposed to shun like ... well ... the devil?

From my decidedly small understanding of the history of the holiday, it seems that what we call "Halloween" is a distinctly American tradition going all the way back to ... the pilgrims - no further.

Besides, if, as everyone seems to be saying, we should avoid Halloween because it dates back to pre-Christian Celtic society and ohmygoshthatzbad!! then shouldn't we do the same for every Christian holiday? Easter? Why, that's Celtic, too. Christmas? Greek and ... other things. Seriously, every holiday celebrated anywhere and at any time can probably be traced back in some way, whether actually or falsely, to an earlier era with which the celebrants would disagree. The point is, we are here, in the now, we are not then, nor there. We are not ancient Celts, or Greeks, or Babylonians, etc.

There are plenty of other reasons not to celebrate Halloween, so why do we have to make up new ones?

Comments

Happy Hermit (happilyhiddenhermit@gmail.com) said…
Haloween used to be a time when beggars could gather and beg for sweets and other food . They carried around carved out TURNIPS , to hold their candle so that they could see , and not burn themselves. They acted the role of bufoon and clown to please those who had extra to give them as reward.

it used to be about giving to the poor , somehow it wound up being construed completley different.
November 17, 2009 at 3:34 PM
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