Resource Notes
Corporate Prayer Resources
Once again Halloween is upon us. People are carving their Jack O’ Lanterns, selecting scary costumes, and buying candy for the neighborhood kids. But what, exactly, are they celebrating?
Beneath the mask of Halloween lies a dark secret and an even darker purpose.
To understand the dark secret of Halloween it is necessary to trace its origin back to the ancient Celtic peoples and their priests, the Druids. November 1 marks their high festival Samhain, named after the ancient Babylonian Sun God Samas. However, the real purpose of the celebration is death, as the Druids sacrificed humans on that day and kept the people in fear of the vengeful spirits of the dead. The Jack O‘ Lantern, representing a severed head,and the frightful costumes are echos of these murderous rituals, the dark secret of Halloween.
When Christianity came to the Celts a decision was made to incorporate their holidays into the Church calendar in order to make the pagans feel more at home in the Church. However, this attempt to put a Christian mask on a pagan holiday backfired, as the pagan celebration was brought into the Church.
So the dark purpose of Halloween, the celebration of death instead of celebrating Christ author of life, continues to this day.
We pray that people will take off the mask of Halloween and honor the Lord of Life this October 31. There are plenty of ways to have fun without celebrating the death day of the Druids.