Christian Message Boards: Hallowe'en Tract

This is topic Hallowe'en Tract in forum General Discussion at Christian Message Boards.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://thechristianbbs.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=000549

Posted by Robby (Member # 448) on :

I had heard the roots of Halloween began as a Christian day of memorial for martyrs of the church. I don't recall ever hearing this before, but I found a tract which explains it all.

I know quite a few here choose not to celebrate Halloween, and that's okay. We should celebrate Christ anyway--everyday, in every way--and remember those who gave their lives for the cause. (I've never been much of a celebrant of the holiday either. I must say reading about it's history has me curious though.)

Hallowe'en Tract

Posted by Caretaker (Member # 36) on :

Thank you for the link Robby.

I would question the material as the source is obscure and contrary to a huge preponderance of evidence to the contrary.

From your link:

Many people innocently suppose that the Druids of ancient Wales began Hallowe'en as their New Year, thousands of years ago. But history tells us that it was not Hallowe'en that they started, but the Vigil of Samhain. They did not celebrate it on October 31, but on September 22 (the autumnal equinox of the sun).1 We know little about the Druids and what they practiced because they never wrote anything down.2 By the time the Church began an October 31 celebration of Hallowe'en (A.D. 731),3 the Druids had been extinct for hundreds of years.4 There have been a few unsuccessful attempts to restart the cult in the last several centuries, the latest of which dates back no more than 50 years.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I believe the author may have posted faulty information, combining the fall harvest festival with Samhain. Actually there were three distinct fall/harvest festivals celebrated by the early pagans:

http://www.mysticalplanet.com/lib/fallequinox.html

The fall equinox is the time for the second of three harvest festivals celebrated by Pagan and Neo-pagan religions, known as Mabon, Alban Elfed, Harvest Home, and Winter Finding. (The first, Lammas, is on Aug. 1st and the last, Samhain, is Oct. 31st.) As a holiday, Mabon represents a time for honoring the dead, visiting burial sites, giving thankfulness for the end of the harvest season and the bounty it provides. These are the themes of closing, letting go, and remembering the year, the harvest, and those who were lost during the year.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

However Samhain was actually on Oct. 31st as they welcomed in winter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samhain

Samhain (IPA: /ˈsawənʲ/) is the word for November in Irish and Scottish Gaelic. The same word was used for the first month of the ancient Celtic calendar, and in particular the first three nights of this month, the festival marking the beginning of the winter season. Elements of the festival are continued in the traditions of All Souls Day and Halloween. The name is also used for one of the sabbats in the Neo-Pagan wheel of the year.

Celtic folklore

The Samhain celebration survived in several guises as a festival dedicated to the dead. In Ireland and Scotland, the Féile na Marbh, the "festival of the dead" took place on Samhain.

Samhain Eve, in Irish and Scots Gaelic, Oidhche Shamhna, is one of the principal festivals of the Celtic calendar, and is thought to fall on or around the 31st of October. It represents the final harvest. In modern Ireland and Scotland, the name by which Halloween is known in the Gaelic language is still "Oíche/Oidhche Shamhna".

Bonfires played a large part in the festivities. Even into Christian times, villagers cast the bones of the slaughtered cattle upon the flames, cattle having a prominent place in the pre-Christian Gaelic world. The English word 'bonfire' derives from these "bone fires," but the Gaelic has no such parallel. With the bonfire ablaze, the villagers extinguished all other fires. Each family then solemnly lit its hearth from the common flame, thus bonding the families of the village together.

According to Irish mythology, during that night the great shield of Scathach was lowered, allowing the barriers between the worlds to fade and the forces of chaos to invade the realms of order, the material world conjoining with the world of the dead. At this time the spirits of the dead and those yet to be born walked amongst the living. The dead could return to the places where they had lived and food and entertainment were provided in their honour. In the three days preceding Samhain, the Sun God Lugh, maimed at Lughnassadh (August 1), dies by the hand of his Tánaiste (counterpart or heir), the Lord of Misrule. Lugh traverses the boundaries of the worlds on the first day of Samhain. His Tanist is a miser and, though shining brightly in the winter skies, he gives no warmth and does not temper the breath of the Crone, Cailleach Bheare, the north wind.

In parts of western Brittany Samhain is still heralded by the baking of kornigou, cakes baked in the shape of antlers to commemorate the god of winter shedding his "cuckold" horns as he returns to his kingdom in the Otherworld.

The Romans identified Samhain with their own feast of the dead, the Lemuria. This, however, was observed in the days leading up to May 13.

With Christianization, the festival in November (not the Roman festival in May) became All Hallows' Day on November 1st followed by All Souls' Day, on November 2nd, after which the night of October 31 was called All Hallow's Eve, and the remnants festival dedicated to the dead eventually morphed into the secular holiday known as Halloween.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

What is the agenda of the author of the tract, and is his premice substantiated from other sources?

There is a greater volume of evidence which contradicts the author, based in Celtic folklore, Irish/Scottish climatic conditions, and histories of early peoples.

The author of the tract stands alone in defending a secular celebration. I would be very leery of his premice, agenda, and conclusions.

Posted by Robby (Member # 448) on :

You see, the information you've provided is the impression I've always had.