Not a Time To Compromise!

What About Halloween and the Christian?

10.20.2024

God has equipped us with His protection and His power!

Ephesians 6:10-18 (ERV)

To end my letter I tell you, be strong in the Lord and in his great power. 11 Wear the full armor of God. Wear God’s armor so that you can fight against the devil’s clever tricks. 12 Our fight is not against people on earth. We are fighting against the rulers and authorities and the powers of this world’s darkness. We are fighting against the spiritual powers of evil in the heavenly places. 13 That is why you need to get God’s full armor. Then on the day of evil, you will be able to stand strong. And when you have finished the whole fight, you will still be standing. 14 So stand strong with the belt of truth tied around your waist, and on your chest wear the protection of right living. 15 On your feet wear the Good News of peace to help you stand strong. 16 And also use the shield of faith with which you can stop all the burning arrows that come from the Evil One. 17 Accept God’s salvation as your helmet. And take the sword of the Spirit—that sword is the teaching of God. 18 Pray in the Spirit at all times. Pray with all kinds of prayers, and ask for everything you need. To do this you must always be ready. Never give up. Always pray for all of God’s people.

There is an all-out assault on everything godly today.

Our freedoms are on the line.

Our ability to speak freely is on the line.

Our families are on the line.

Our children are being offered as a sacrifice to the gods of deception and sex.

To be nonchalant is to give up in the middle of a fight!

We are not in a physical war, but we are in a spiritual battle!

The spirit of Antichrist is loose worldwide, looking for a global government to lead every nation politically, financially, morally, and spiritually.

The motive behind this spirit of Antichrist is to replace God and His Son Jesus Christ with a new set of standards for living and relating to one another.

Demon spirits that promote immortality in every form and that promote lawlessness are seeking entrance into American life just like they are in the rest of the world!

The goal is for all to be the same. Everyone exactly equal. No one having more than another, and all being told by this global government what they can do, say, think, and value, and what they cannot do.

The goal is a complete absence of morals. Anybody can live any way they choose. Lying, cheating, stealing, lusting, all forms of sexual behavior as legit, and all bowing to the will of the global government for the greater good, and for world peace.

It is a trick, a lie, a ruse, and a scheme to rob God of His place and His Son’s place in the world!

Resist this in how you live, what you value, how you train your children, and how you vote.

1 John 2:18 (NKJV)

Deceptions of the Last Hour

Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.

1 John 2:22-23 (NKJV)

Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

The following verses are so applicable today:

Deuteronomy 30:15-20 (NLT)

Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster. 16 For I command you this day to love the LORD your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy.

17 “But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods, 18 then I warn you now that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live a long, good life in the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy.

19 “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! 20 You can make this choice by loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the LORD, you will live long in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

Take your authority in Christ seriously today!

Don’t allow Satan and his forces to run over you and you family. Fight for what is right.

Stay silent and you loose what God has given you!

We have spiritual authority over Satan and his forces.

Luke 10:19 (NKJV)

Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

Matthew 18:18-20 (NKJV)

Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.

Matthew 18:18-20 (CEV)

I promise you that God in heaven will allow whatever you allow on earth, but he will not allow anything you don’t allow. 19 I promise that when any two of you on earth agree about something you are praying for, my Father in heaven will do it for you. 20 Whenever two or three of you come together in my name, I am there with you.

Colossians 1:12-13 (NKJV)

Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,

Colossians 1:13 (AMP)

The Father has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and the dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,

James 4:7 (NKJV)

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you!

James 4:7 (ERV)

So give yourselves to God. Stand against the devil, and he will run away from you.

Ephesians 4:27 (NKJV)

Nor give place to the devil.

Ephesians 4:27 (ERV)

Don’t give the devil a way to defeat you.

Place:

(Rick Renner)

When Paul told us to give the devil no place, that word “place” is the Greek word topos. It describes a specific, marked-off location. But rather than a physical location that we use a map to identify, this “place” may refer to a rough spot in our relationships, our finances, our thoughts, or our personal habits or to lingering areas of disobedience. Whatever it is, it’s an identifiable location that the devil seeks to find and use as an open door into our lives.

— Sparkling Gems from the Greek Vol. 2: 365 New Gems To Equip And Empower You For Victory Every Day Of The Year by Rick Renner

https://a.co/29rLj6Q

Devil:

(Rick Renner)

The word “devil” in Ephesians 4: 27 leaves no question about the devil’s intention to attack us as believers. It is the Greek word diabolos, which is a compound of dia and ballo. The word dia means through, as in all the way through an object. This second part of the word “devil” is from the word ballo, which means to throw, to hurl, to inject, or even to beat. When these two words are compounded to form the word diabolos, the new word categorically means that the devil is one who strikes repetitiously—trying to find a way to break through into our worlds and mess up our lives.

— Sparkling Gems from the Greek Vol. 2: 365 New Gems To Equip And Empower You For Victory Every Day Of The Year by Rick Renner

https://a.co/eNDvR84

Be aware of the background of Halloween!

When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, be very careful not to imitate the detestable customs of the nations living there. 10 For example, never sacrifice your son or daughter as a burnt offering. And do not let your people practice fortune-telling, or use sorcery, or interpret omens, or engage in witchcraft, 11 or cast spells, or function as mediums or psychics, or call forth the spirits of the dead. 12 Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord. It is because the other nations have done these detestable things that the Lord your God will drive them out ahead of you. 13 But you must be blameless before the Lord your God. 14 The nations you are about to displace consult sorcerers and fortune-tellers, but the Lord your God forbids you to do such things (Deuteronomy 18:9-14, NLT).

I have noticed over the last several years that Halloween has become an overtly celebrated holiday in America with houses being decorated with ghosts and goblins, witches and black cats, Jack-O-Lanterns on the steps, along with lots and lots of blow-up items for the yard and lights in the front yard.

To top it all off, families dress up their kids in their favorite costumes and trick or treat at all the places where candy can be retrieved as a “treat.”

Schools favor the holiday, and offices and businesses frequently allow the costumes to be worn too.

I have some questions.

Should I as a believer dress up my house and yard in Halloween decor just like my neighbors?

Is it appropriate for my kids to dress up for Halloween?

I as a child did what every other child in the 1960’s did at Halloween.

I dressed up like a devil or a skeleton or a ghost or whatever and did the normal trick or treat thing. We were good Baptists, and didn’t think a thing about it.

Our Baptist church celebrated Halloween with all kinds of spooky rooms decorated to scare the daylights out of the kids. After all, it was all fun and play!

Really, it was nothing serious, right?

After I was genuinely saved and filled with the Holy Spirit, I look back with great surprise on what I did as a child, and at what my church and other Christians in my circle allowed on Halloween.

Susan and I raised our children to honor God, and to dislike all things demonic and satanic. We did not celebrate Halloween.

Today, these things are freely celebrated among Christians.

Here are a few things to think about today as our culture celebrates Halloween.

What would it look like if you flew a Nazi swastika on your property during World War ll?

People would think you were nuts, and you would be. What if you flew an ISIS flag on your porch?

Hopefully you are smarter than that!

What signals are we sending to our kids when we allow them to dress up like the enemy of our souls one day out of the year?

And what does it say to our enemy satan and the hordes of demons that do his bidding when we dress up our yards and homes with replicas of the dead, of witches and demons and ghosts and all things spooky?

We can’t see them, but they must be quite entertained at our lack of seriousness about the spiritual battles we face!

And you better know they feel the permission to visit these homes and families and kids that innocuously celebrate Halloween.

For the origins of Halloween historically through the centuries and its celebration here in America, check out this hyperlink from the University of Albany:

https://www.albany.edu/~dp1252/isp523/halloween.html

All things satanic are forbidden to be practiced by the people of God in the Old Testament. I have traveled a good bit in Africa and India, lands where superstitions and all sorts of demonic practices are woven into the fabric of their cultures.

And I have seen how demonic power has wounded these beautiful people.

Americans are naive to the dangers of the demonic world.

Deuteronomy 18:9-14 (NLT)

When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, be very careful not to imitate the detestable customs of the nations living there. (10) For example, never sacrifice your son or daughter as a burnt offering. And do not let your people practice fortune-telling, or use sorcery, or interpret omens, or engage in witchcraft, (11) or cast spells, or function as mediums or psychics, or call forth the spirits of the dead. (12) Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord. It is because the other nations have done these detestable things that the Lord your God will drive them out ahead of you. (13) But you must be blameless before the Lord your God. (14) The nations you are about to displace consult sorcerers and fortune-tellers, but the Lord your God forbids you to do such things.”

Demon influence and possession are real.

I have cast these foul entities out of people.

They are not nice. They want to steal from you.

They want to kill you and destroy the peaceful life you have.

They wants to fill your body with illness, your mind with confusion, your marriage with trouble, your relationships with strife, your community with anarchy and lawlessness, and they want you to go to hell. You want all that?

I have nothing to do with them, and you would be wise to walk with Jesus and cleanse your home of any demonic symbols and rituals, and not just at Halloween, but all the time.

And we should teach our children to steer clear of these things. And we should teach them to honor God, to love His Word, and to believe His promises, and to ACT like Jesus!

Action Points:

1. Am I aware of the authority that Jesus has given me over Satan and the demonic realm?
2. Do I actively resist Satan in his kingdom’s desire to invade my life and my family?
3. Am I giving Satan a place in any area of my life to hinder me in my walk with God?
4. Am I modeling to my family and children what it looks like to resist the devil and have nothing to do with him?

Endnotes

Old and New Testament Scriptures:

Here are scriptures from the Old and New Testaments where God encouraged His people to have nothing to do with any kinds of demonic activities. We would do well to listen and obey them today. King Saul in Israel sought counsel from a witch in Endor. It eventually cost him his life. Read with interest.

Deuteronomy 18:9-14 (NLT)

When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, be very careful not to imitate the detestable customs of the nations living there. (10) For example, never sacrifice your son or daughter as a burnt offering. And do not let your people practice fortune-telling, or use sorcery, or interpret omens, or engage in witchcraft, (11) or cast spells, or function as mediums or psychics, or call forth the spirits of the dead. (12) Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord. It is because the other nations have done these detestable things that the Lord your God will drive them out ahead of you. (13) But you must be blameless before the Lord your God. (14) The nations you are about to displace consult sorcerers and fortune-tellers, but the Lord your God forbids you to do such things.”

Leviticus 18:1-5 (NLT)

Then the Lord said to Moses, (2) “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. I am the Lord your God. (3) So do not act like the people in Egypt, where you used to live, or like the people of Canaan, where I am taking you. You must not imitate their way of life. (4) You must obey all my regulations and be careful to obey my decrees, for I am the Lord your God. (5) If you obey my decrees and my regulations, you will find life through them. I am the Lord.

Galatians 5:19-21 (NLT)

When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, (20) idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, (21) envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

1 Corinthians 10:19-21 (NLT)

What am I trying to say? Am I saying that food offered to idols has some significance, or that idols are real gods? (20) No, not at all. I am saying that these sacrifices are offered to demons, not to God. And I don’t want you to participate with demons. (21) You cannot drink from the cup of the Lord and from the cup of demons, too. You cannot eat at the Lord’s Table and at the table of demons, too.

Ephesians 6:10-18 (NLT)

A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. (11) Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. (12) For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

(13) Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. (14) Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. (15) For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. (16) In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. (17) Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

(18) Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.

Revelation 22:15 (NLT)

Outside the city are the dogs—the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idol worshipers, and all who love to live a lie.

Leviticus 20:6-7 (NLT)

I will also turn against those who commit spiritual prostitution by putting their trust in mediums or in those who consult the spirits of the dead. I will cut them off from the community. 7 So set yourselves apart to be holy, for I am the Lord your God.

1 Samuel 28:5-22 (NLT)

When Saul saw the vast Philistine army, he became frantic with fear. 6 He asked the Lord what he should do, but the Lord refused to answer him, either by dreams or by sacred lots or by the prophets. 7 Saul then said to his advisers, “Find a woman who is a medium, so I can go and ask her what to do.”

His advisers replied, “There is a medium at Endor.”

8 So Saul disguised himself by wearing ordinary clothing instead of his royal robes. Then he went to the woman’s home at night, accompanied by two of his men.

“I have to talk to a man who has died,” he said. “Will you call up his spirit for me?”

9 “Are you trying to get me killed?” the woman demanded. “You know that Saul has outlawed all the mediums and all who consult the spirits of the dead. Why are you setting a trap for me?”

10 But Saul took an oath in the name of the Lord and promised, “As surely as the Lord lives, nothing bad will happen to you for doing this.”

11 Finally, the woman said, “Well, whose spirit do you want me to call up?”

“Call up Samuel,” Saul replied.

12 When the woman saw Samuel, she screamed, “You’ve deceived me! You are Saul!”

13 “Don’t be afraid!” the king told her. “What do you see?”

“I see a god coming up out of the earth,” she said.

14 “What does he look like?” Saul asked.

“He is an old man wrapped in a robe,” she replied. Saul realized it was Samuel, and he fell to the ground before him.

15 “Why have you disturbed me by calling me back?” Samuel asked Saul.

“Because I am in deep trouble,” Saul replied. “The Philistines are at war with me, and God has left me and won’t reply by prophets or dreams. So I have called for you to tell me what to do.”

16 But Samuel replied, “Why ask me, since the Lord has left you and has become your enemy? 17 The Lord has done just as he said he would. He has torn the kingdom from you and given it to your rival, David. 18 The Lord has done this to you today because you refused to carry out his fierce anger against the Amalekites. 19 What’s more, the Lord will hand you and the army of Israel over to the Philistines tomorrow, and you and your sons will be here with me. The Lord will bring down the entire army of Israel in defeat.”

20 Saul fell full length on the ground, paralyzed with fright because of Samuel’s words. He was also faint with hunger, for he had eaten nothing all day and all night.

21 When the woman saw how distraught he was, she said, “Sir, I obeyed your command at the risk of my life. 22 Now do what I say, and let me give you a little something to eat so you can regain your strength for the trip back.”

2 Kings 21:6-7 (NLT)

Manasseh also sacrificed his own son in the fire. He practiced sorcery and divination, and he consulted with mediums and psychics. He did much that was evil in the Lord’s sight, arousing his anger. 7 Manasseh even made a carved image of Asherah and set it up in the Temple, the very place where the Lord had told David and his son Solomon: “My name will be honored forever in this Temple and in Jerusalem—the city I have chosen from among all the tribes of Israel.

The History of Halloween:

https://www.history.com/topics/halloween/history-of-halloween

Halloween is a holiday celebrated each year on October 31, and Halloween 2024 will occur on Thursday, October 31. The tradition originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor all saints. Soon, All Saints Day incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain. The evening before was known as All Hallows Eve, and later Halloween. Over time, Halloween evolved into a day of activities like trick-or-treating, carving jack-o-lanterns, festive gatherings, donning costumes and eating treats.

What is the History of Halloween?

Halloween’s origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago, mostly in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1.

This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth.

In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort during the long, dark winter.

To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other’s fortunes.

When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.

Did you know? One quarter of all the candy sold annually in the U.S. is purchased for Halloween.

By A.D. 43, the Roman Empire had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the 400 years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain.

The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple, and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of bobbing for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.

All Saints’ Day

On May 13, A.D. 609, Pope Boniface IV dedicated the Pantheon in Rome in honor of all Christian martyrs, and the Catholic feast of All Martyrs Day was established in the Western church. Pope Gregory III later expanded the festival to include all saints as well as all martyrs, and moved the observance from May 13 to November 1.

By the 9th century, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands, where it gradually blended with and supplanted older Celtic rites. In A.D. 1000, the church made November 2 All Souls’ Day, a day to honor the dead. It’s widely believed today that the church was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, church-sanctioned holiday.

All Souls’ Day was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels and devils. The All Saints’ Day celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints’ Day) and the night before it, the traditional night of Samhain in the Celtic religion, began to be called All-Hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween.

How Did Halloween Start in America?

The celebration of Halloween was extremely limited in colonial New England because of the rigid Protestant belief systems there. Halloween was much more common in Maryland and the southern colonies.

As the beliefs and customs of different European ethnic groups and the American Indians meshed, a distinctly American version of Halloween began to emerge. The first celebrations included “play parties,” which were public events held to celebrate the harvest. Neighbors would share stories of the dead, tell each other’s fortunes, dance and sing.

Did you know? More people are buying costumes for their pets. Americans spent some $700 million on costumes for their pets in 2023—more than three times what they spent in 2010.

Colonial Halloween festivities also featured the telling of ghost stories and mischief-making of all kinds. By the middle of the 19th century, annual autumn festivities were common, but Halloween was not yet celebrated everywhere in the country.

In the second half of the 19th century, America was flooded with new immigrants. These new immigrants, especially the millions of Irish fleeing the Irish Potato Famine, helped to popularize the celebration of Halloween nationally.

History of Trick-or-Treating

Borrowing from European traditions, Americans began to dress up in costumes and go house to house asking for food or money, a practice that eventually became today’s “trick-or-treat” tradition. Young women believed that on Halloween they could divine the name or appearance of their future husband by doing tricks with yarn, apple parings or mirrors.

In the late 1800s, there was a move in America to mold Halloween into a holiday more about community and neighborly get-togethers than about ghosts, pranks and witchcraft. At the turn of the century, Halloween parties for both children and adults became the most common way to celebrate the day. Parties focused on games, foods of the season and festive costumes.

Parents were encouraged by newspapers and community leaders to take anything “frightening” or “grotesque” out of Halloween celebrations.

Because of these efforts, Halloween lost most of its superstitious and religious overtones by the beginning of the twentieth century.

Halloween Parties

By the 1920s and 1930s, Halloween had become a secular but community-centered holiday, with parades and town-wide Halloween parties as the featured entertainment. Despite the best efforts of many schools and communities, vandalism began to plague some celebrations in many communities during this time.

By the 1950s, town leaders had successfully limited vandalism and Halloween had evolved into a holiday directed mainly at the young. Due to the high numbers of young children during the fifties baby boom, parties moved from town civic centers into the classroom or home, where they could be more easily accommodated.

Between 1920 and 1950, the centuries-old practice of trick-or-treating was also revived. Trick-or-treating was a relatively inexpensive way for an entire community to share the Halloween celebration. In theory, families could also prevent tricks being played on them by providing the neighborhood children with small treats.

Thus, a new American tradition was born, and it has continued to grow. Today, Americans spend an estimated $6 billion annually on Halloween, making it the country’s second largest commercial holiday after Christmas.

All Souls Day and Soul Cakes

The American Halloween tradition of trick-or-treating probably dates back to the early All Souls’ Day parades in England. During the festivities, poor citizens would beg for food and families would give them pastries called “soul cakes” in return for their promise to pray for the family’s dead relatives.

The distribution of soul cakes was encouraged by the church as a way to replace the ancient practice of leaving food and wine for roaming spirits. The practice, which was referred to as “going a-souling,” was eventually taken up by children who would visit the houses in their neighborhood and be given ale, food and money.

The tradition of dressing in costume for Halloween has both European and Celtic roots. Hundreds of years ago, winter was an uncertain and frightening time. Food supplies often ran low and, for the many people afraid of the dark, the short days of winter were full of constant worry.

On Halloween, when it was believed that ghosts came back to the earthly world, people thought that they would encounter ghosts if they left their homes. To avoid being recognized by these ghosts, people would wear masks when they left their homes after dark so that the ghosts would mistake them for fellow spirits.

On Halloween, to keep ghosts away from their houses, people would place bowls of food outside their homes to appease the ghosts and prevent them from attempting to enter.

Black Cats and Ghosts on Halloween

Halloween has always been a holiday filled with mystery, magic and superstition. It began as a Celtic end-of-summer festival during which people felt especially close to deceased relatives and friends. For these friendly spirits, they set places at the dinner table, left treats on doorsteps and along the side of the road and lit candles to help loved ones find their way back to the spirit world.

Today’s Halloween ghosts are often depicted as more fearsome and malevolent, and our customs and superstitions are scarier too. We avoid crossing paths with black cats, afraid that they might bring us bad luck.

This idea has its roots in the Middle Ages, when many people believed that witches avoided detection by turning themselves into black cats.

We try not to walk under ladders for the same reason. This superstition may have come from the ancient Egyptians, who believed that triangles were sacred (it also may have something to do with the fact that walking under a leaning ladder tends to be fairly unsafe). And around Halloween, especially, we try to avoid breaking mirrors, stepping on cracks in the road or spilling salt.

Halloween Matchmaking and Lesser-Known Rituals

But what about the Halloween traditions and beliefs that today’s trick-or-treaters have forgotten all about? Many of these obsolete rituals focused on the future instead of the past and the living instead of the dead.

In particular, many had to do with helping young women identify their future husbands and reassuring them that they would someday—with luck, by next Halloween—be married. In 18th-century Ireland, a matchmaking cook might bury a ring in her mashed potatoes on Halloween night, hoping to bring true love to the diner who found it.

In Scotland, fortune-tellers recommended that an eligible young woman name a hazelnut for each of her suitors and then toss the nuts into the fireplace. The nut that burned to ashes rather than popping or exploding, the story went, represented the girl’s future husband. (In some versions of this legend, the opposite was true: The nut that burned away symbolized a love that would not last.)

Another tale had it that if a young woman ate a sugary concoction made out of walnuts, hazelnuts and nutmeg before bed on Halloween night she would dream about her future husband.

Young women tossed apple-peels over their shoulders, hoping that the peels would fall on the floor in the shape of their future husbands’ initials; tried to learn about their futures by peering at egg yolks floating in a bowl of water and stood in front of mirrors in darkened rooms, holding candles and looking over their shoulders for their husbands’ faces.

Other rituals were more competitive. At some Halloween parties, the first guest to find a burr on a chestnut-hunt would be the first to marry. At others, the first successful apple-bobber would be the first down the aisle.

Of course, whether we’re asking for romantic advice or trying to avoid seven years of bad luck, each one of these Halloween superstitions relies on the goodwill of the very same “spirits” whose presence the early Celts felt so keenly.

The Origin of Halloween

https://www.albany.edu/~dp1252/isp523/halloween.html

Introduction Halloween or All Hallows Eve, as it is sometimes referred to, is a lot different now than it may have been celebrated many centuries ago. With October 31st coming around the corner, I thought it would be interesting to find out what the origins of Halloween were. Earliest Trace Peter Tokofsky, an assistant professor in the department of folklore and mythology in UCLA states, “The earliest trace (of Halloween) is the Celtic festival, Samhain, which was the Celtic New Year. It was the day of the dead, and they believed the souls of the deceased would be available” (Navarro). Samhain Samhain (pronounced sah-win or sow-in) means “summer’s end” by the Celts. In old Germanic and Celtic societies, what we call equinoxes and solstices marked the middles of the season, not the beginnings.” (Chamberlain) Therefore if there exist an autumnal equinox, winter solstice, spring equinox and a summer solstice, there are also the beginning of autumn, winter, spring and summer. All of these eight dates were important. Summer’s end which meant the beginning of winter was an important time for people who survived on plants grown in the field and animals that were kept in pastures. (Chamberlain) “This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death” (The History Channel Exhibits- History of Halloween) It is most likely this reason that the Druids (Celtic pagans) believed that the spirits of those who died the preceding year roamed the earth the night of Samhain (MSN Learning & Research- Halloween) Descriptions The Druids celebrated this holiday “with a great fire festival to encourage the dimming Sun not to vanish” and people “danced round bonfires to keep evil sprits away, but left their doors open in hopes that the kind spirits of loved ones might join them around their hearths”. On this night, “divination was thought to be more effective than any other time, so methods were derived to ascertain who might marry, what great person might be born, who might rise to prominence, or who might die” (Chamberlain). Also during the celebration, the Celts “wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other’s fortunes”. Crops were burned and animals were sacrificed (The History Channel Exhibits- The History of Halloween). The spirits were believed to be either “entertained by the living”, or to “find a body to possess for the incoming year”. This all gives reasons as to why “dressing up like witches, ghosts and goblins, villagers could avoid being possessed.” (Navarro ) Roman Influence By 43 AD, “Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory.” For the 400 years they occupied Celtic lands, two Roman festivals: Feralia (the commemoration of the passing of the dead) and a day to honor Pomona (the Roman goddess of fruits and trees). The apple served as a symbol for Pomona and which might have been incorporated into Samhain by the practice of “bobbing for apples” (The History of Halloween). Christian Influence When “local people converted to Christianity during the early Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic Church often incorporated modified versions of older religious traditions in order to win converts.” Pope Gregory IV wanted to substitute Samhain with All Saints’ Day in 835, but All Souls’ Day (Nov. 2nd) which is closer in resemblance to Samhain and Halloween today, was “first instituted at a French monastery in 998 and quickly spread throughout Europe” (MSN Learning & Research- Halloween). In the 16th century, “Christian village children celebrated the vigil of All Saints’ by doing the Danse Macabre. The Seven Brethren whose grizzly death is described in the seventh chapter of the deuterocanonical book of Second Macabees” is also said to have resulted in children dressing up in grizzly costumes to signify these deaths. (Thomas ) Modern Halloween Halloween came to the United States when European immigrants “brought their varied Halloween customs with them”. In the second half of the nineteenth century, America was flooded with new immigrants including the Irish fleeing from the potato famine in Ireland in 1846. By combining Irish and English traditions, Americans began the “trick-or-treat” tradition. In the later 1800’s the holiday became more centered on community and in the 1920’s and 1930’s, Halloween became “a secular, but community-centered holiday”. In the 1950’s leaders changed Halloween as a holiday aimed at the young to limit vandalism. This all led to what Halloween actually is like today. (The History Channel Exhibits: The History of Halloween)

Sources: A Reminder of Death. Navarro, Michelle. Oct. 1997. UCLA. 12 Oct. 2002. <http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/DB/issues/97/10.31/news.halloween.html> Halloween FAQ. Thomas, Patrick. 4 Nov. 1993. Rutgers University. 12 Oct. 2002. <http://www.cs.rutgers.edu/pub/soc.religion.christian/faq/halloween> History Channel Exhibits: The History of Halloween. 2002. The History Channel. 12. Oct. 2002. <http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/halloween/hallowmas.html> History of Halloween 29 Feb. 2001. Indiana University. 12 Oct. 2002. <http://www.iun.edu/~preprofn/Histroy%20of%20Halloween.htm> MSN Learning & Research- Halloween. MSN Encarta. 12. Oct. 2002. <http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefArticle.aspx?refid=761572079> The Origin of Halloween Comes Out of the Sky. Chamberlain, Von Del. State University of Utah. 12. Oct. 2002. <http://www.utah.edu/planetarium/CQHalloween.html> Other Related Links: Halloween Traditions around the World. Flowers, MaDonna. 28. June. 2011. Halloween Costumes Blog. <http://www.halloweencostumes.com/blog/post/2011/06/28/halloween-traditions-around-the-world.aspx>