Halloween Fun or Religious Blasphemy?

With Halloween at our doorstep I figured I should do a little research about this annual event, especially since it seems like everyone is trying to tell me that it is a horrible holiday that I should not celebrate. First of all, I don't find Halloween to be an event for celebration. As a father of a five-year-old I see it as a really cool night for my daughter to get dressed up and become a fairy princess, mermaid or any semblance of a Disney character that she finds cool this week. Daughter, Mom and Dad load up in the mini-van and head out for an unbelievable evening of going door-to-door begging for candy in areas that have already been scoped out by "Dear Old Dad" as "Kid Friendly". We finish the night off with candy scattered across the living room floor so Mom and Dad can search the candy for the infamous needles and razors in the candy we were all horrified to hear about when we were children. That's it in a nutshell for me. I don't like to complicate my world with the religious implications that Halloween presents. I don't want to upset any Christian priests, pastors, ministers nor do I want to upset any Wiccan high-priestess or any pronounced Shaman that's out there. In my life and in my world, Halloween stands out as kids event that is surrounded by fun and games, not practices of the spirit world and the occult.

Halloween does stand out for many because of its unique mix of secular and religious elements. In recent years, the holiday has stirred up a lot of controversy because it offends some Christian groups, which in turn upsets many modern-day Wiccans and Druids. I hate to be involved in a lot of controversy, especially religious controversy.

So let's get educated about the annual spooky event. ­If you've ­ever wondered w­here all those peculiar Halloween practices come from, or you can't figure out why Halloween is such a hot topic with a lot of people, then this article will get you ready for Halloween.

Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celticfestival known as Samhain. The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture, and is sometimes regarded as the "Celtic New Year". Traditionally, the festival was a time used by the ancient pagans to take stock of supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. The ancient Gaels believed that on October 31, now known as Halloween, the boundary between the alive and the deceased dissolved, and the dead become dangerous for the living by causing problems such as sickness or damaged crops. The festivals would frequently involve bonfires, into which bones of slaughtered livestock were thrown. Costumes and masks were also worn at the festivals in an attempt to mimic the evil spirits or placate them.

The term Halloween is shortened from All Hallows' Even (both "even" and "eve" are abbreviations of "evening", but "Halloween" gets its "n" from "even") as it is the eve of "All Hallows' Day", which is now also known as All Saints' Day. It was a day of religious festivities in various northern European Pagan traditions, until Popes Gregory III and Gregory IV moved the old Christian feast of All Saints' Day from May 13 (which had itself been the date of a pagan holiday, the Feast of the Lemures) to November 1. In the ninth century, the Church measured the day as starting at sunset, in accordance with the Florentine calendar. Although All Saints' Day is now considered to occur one day after Halloween, the two holidays were, at that time, celebrated on the same day. Liturgically, the Church traditionally celebrated that day as the Vigil of All Saints, and, until 1970, a day of fasting as well. Like other vigils, it was celebrated on the previous day if it fell on a Sunday, although secular celebrations of the holiday remained on the 31st. The Vigil was suppressed in 1955, but was later restored in the post-Vatican II calendar.

The carved pumpkin, lit by a candle inside, is one of Halloween's most prominent symbols in America, and is commonly called a jack-o'-lantern. Originating in Europe, these lanterns were first carved from a turnip or rutabaga. Believing that the head was the most powerful part of the body containing the spirit and the knowledge, the Celts used the "head" of the vegetable to frighten off any superstitions. The name jack-o'-lantern can be traced back to the Irish legend of Stingy Jack, a greedy, gambling, hard-drinking old farmer. He tricked the devil into climbing a tree and trapped him by carving a cross into the tree trunk. In revenge, the devil placed a curse on Jack, condemning him to forever wander the earth at night with the only light he had: a candle inside of a hollowed turnip. The carving of pumpkins is associated with Halloween in North America, where pumpkins were readily available and much larger, making them easier to carve than turnips. Many families that celebrate Halloween carve a pumpkin into a frightening or comical face and place it on their home's doorstep after dark. In America the tradition of carving pumpkins is known to have proceeded the Great Famine period of Irish immigration. The carved pumpkin was originally associated with harvest time in general in America and did not become specifically associated with Halloween until the mid-to-late 19th century.

The commercialization of Halloween in the United States did not start until the 20th century, beginning perhaps with Halloween postcards (featuring hundreds of designs) which were most popular between 1905 and 1915. Dennison Manufacturing Company, which published its first Halloween catalog in 1909, and the Beistle Company were pioneers in commercially made Halloween decorations, particularly die-cut paper items. German manufacturers specialized in Halloween figurines that were exported to the United States in the period between the two world wars.

There is little primary documentation of masking or costuming on Halloween in the United States or elsewhere, before 1900. Mass-produced Halloween costumes did not appear in stores until the 1930s, and trick-or-treating did not become a fixture of the holiday until the 1950s.

In the 1990s, many manufacturers began producing a larger variety of Halloween yard decorations; before this a majority of decorations were homemade. Some of the most popular yard decorations are jack-o'-lanterns, scarecrows, witches, orange string lights, inflatable decorations (such as spiders, pumpkins, mummies and vampires), and animatronic window and door decorations. Other popular decorations are foam tombstones and gargoyles.

Halloween is now the United States' second most popular holiday (after Christmas) for decorating; the sale of candy and costumes are also extremely common during the holiday, which is marketed to children and adults alike. According to the National Retail Federation, the most popular Halloween costume themes for adults are, in order: witch, pirate, vampire, cat and clown. Each year, popular costumes are dictated by various current events and pop culture icons. On many college campuses, Halloween is a major celebration, with the Friday and Saturday nearest October 31 hosting many costume parties.

In the past few years a number of towns in Georgia (and other "southern parts", I imagine) decided that celebrating Halloween was un-Christian and a pagan ritual to be avoided at all costs particularly when it landed on a Sunday. Trick-or-treating was banned, Halloween parties became "fall festivals", and children wore their Sunday-school best instead of dressing as little pumpkins, goblins and ghosts. I know that Halloween doesn't fall on a Sunday this year, but I'm wondering if this new anti-Halloween tradition is continuing this year. I have heard in some local circles about "Fall Festivals" that are planned for the night of Halloween. So I am sure the debate will continue. I just wonder if all the political and religious correctness in the world is beginning to shelter our kids from the really cool things we did as children. Can't it just be about fun for the kids?