CAN CHRISTIANS CELEBRATE HALLOWEEN?
SHOULD CHRISTIANS CELEBRATE HALLOWEEN? Even though the modern name ‘Halloween’ derives from the contraction of the English term ‘All-Hallows-Eve’, which is the day before the Christian festival of ‘All Saints Day’, in reality, Halloween comes from before the traditional Church elected the 1 st of November as the ‘Day of All Saints’ and the 2 nd of November as ‘Day of All Souls’. (1) SAMHAIN Halloween is a revival of the Celtic pagan celebration of ‘Harvest Day’ or ‘Samhain’, where the pagan used to celebrate the end of harvest and the commencement of Winter, from the night of the 31 st of October to the 1 st of November, through the use of magic, sacrificial offerings to spirits, invocation of elves, fairies, pagan gods and other demonic characters were called for protection for the coming winter. (2) After Christianity tried to ‘redeem’ these pagan celebrations by adopting the celebration of all Saints on the day, centuries later it revived in England during the 16 th c