Does anyone out there still celebrate the original Christian Holloween?

Question

Holloween was originally the Hallowed Eve of All Saints Day. Remember that people used to consider it a new day as of sundown the day before. So, Halloween was the begining of All Saints Day. All Saints Day used to be a big celebration of all the Christians who have passed on and gone to heaven. A great day of thanking God for sending Jesus to save us from our sins.

Then it got distorted into costumes and candy. Then atheists started claiming it was really a pagan holiday that made it's way into Christianity thereby proving (to them) that Christianity was a false religion. Then some radical, uneducated Christians started jumping on the atheist bandwagon and tried to purge Halloween from Chrstianity. What began as a Godly celebration has become madness.

Does anyone still celebrate the original Christian Halloween?

baronvon... - Because two holidays occur around the same time of year does not mean that they are related or that one came from the other. Holloween is not related to the generic harvest festivals that nearly every society has (religious and secular). That would be like saying the American Thanksgiving is a pagan festival because pagan societies also have similar holidays. Your logic is flawed.

jamesmom... - That's what I'm talking about. A true celebration of Chrstianity and great Christians.

Trish M - The Easter egg come from Jewish tradition. During Passover the Jews abstained from certain foods, eggs being one of them. Jews would decorate boiled eggs and give them to each other as gifts at the end of passover.

Many of the first Christians were Jewish converts and still had this practice. The early Church Fathers used the egg to explain Jesus' ressurection. Although an egg looks inanimate, a living chick may come out of it. Although the tomb looks dead, the living Christ came forth out of it. Instead of giving decorated eggs at the end of Passover, believers now gave decorated eggs to remember the Ressurrection.

As for the Christmas tree, that tradition was first begun by Martin Luther. Seeing the stars through the trees reminded him of the star that led the wise men to Jesus. Anyone who claims its an old pagan practice will have to explain why it wasn't practiced for 1500 years and why Martin Luther would lie about such a thing.

◦Delylah... - Because two things share some similarities does not make them related. It is doubtful that any Christians even knew of this pagan story when they decided to create a day to celebrate their religion. You have to explain the 1000 years between end of the pagan practice and the begining of the Christian practice.

by elder_mo... - A gathering of friends and neighbors to celebrate the harvest is secular - non-religious.

Neptune2... - Yes, humans have created a lot of holidays. If we create holidays to celebrate what is good in the world - religious or secular - that's fine. I just don't like when people want to take something inherently good and use it to make false accusations against those who are promoting good. Neither do I like the money-grubbing marketeers who want to take advantage of it just to feed their greed.

All Christians of all denominations should celebrate our common faith and remember with respect those Christians who have gone on to their eternal reward.

AuroraDa... - Your hatred of Christians is not appreciated. Although, I did expect more animosity from the anti-Christian group.

Answer 1

Yes I still do this as part of my faith and I feel it is so sad that this holy time has been hijacked by capitalism which gives more honor to the devil than to the Saints.

Answer 2

I'm a Christian, and I know that Halloween was originally a Pagan celebration. Its just a fact. The original belief was that on Samhain, the veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead was the thinnest. That's why people carved jack-o'lanterns and wore masks, so that they could ward off spirits. When many Pagans converted to Christianity, this time of year was adopted INTO Christianity. The idea of the "thin veil" was still there, that this was the time of year that we were closest to the those who had passed on before us. That's why All Saints Day was often celebrated by lighting candles for loved ones and leaving your doors open, so that your loved ones could walk freely through your home.

Sadly, its because of the mischief and popular misconceptions that many Christians have come to view this celebration as being related to the devil. Its silly for any of us that practice modern Christianity to ignore the fact that many of our practices have Pagan roots. But what does it matter? All days belong to God anyway ... so its the intent in our hearts that matter!

Edit -- Do you not understand that MOST EARLY CHRISTIANS USED TO BE PAGANS??? Pope Boniface made the "Festival of the Dead" into All Saints Day in 998 AD, and set it aside on a different day. When the folk customs of celebrating Samhain continued, Pope Gregory III changed the date of the celebration to wipe out the Pagan customs.

Answer 3

It's a Fundies world.. STOP their insanity.

P.S. It's HALLOWEEN not HOLLOWEEN, and the Harvest Festival is not generic, nor is it religious or secular in nature. Before organized religion made a mess of things, Farmers who lived outside the city, (pagans), and those who lived further still out in the country, (Heathens), celebrated the end of harvest time with a gathering of friends and neighbors and had a party, complete with a bonfire.

Easter is derived from the Tetunic Goddess Ostre, why symbols were the Bunny, for fertility, and the egg, the cosmic egg of creation.
As for martin luther "Inventing" the christmas tree, it had been around since ancient egyptians, although they had a palm tree as a symbol of everlasting lafe. Older religions, o.k. pagans, decorated their homes with snips from the evergreen trees, since all life is sacred to us, they did not cut it down, and drag it inside to decorate. The roman pagans (Again, before christ was an itch in gods robe), adorned their evergreen trees with bits of metal and a replica of their God Bachus, during their celebration of Saturnalia. LONGGGGG before martin luther

Answer 4

I thank God for Him and His Son Everyday. but I don't do anything special for that particular day.
I love Thanksgiving I just want to be surrounded by family and Friends on that Day no matter thier stance on Beliefs(some are not Christians).


I get excited around this time and miss those that are gone -like my grandfather.

Answer 5

Sweetie... Halloween isn't an original holiday. You'd have to be deluded to deny the fact that the harvest festivals and Samhain have been around one hell of a lot longer than Christianity.

Don't add profanity to my day of the dead and holy new year by saying that it's something made up by atheists to oppose Christianity. Not only are you disrespecting atheists, but you're disrespecting my religion, and making the sane members of your religion look bad.

Answer 6

How interesting I have never heard of this and I have studied the Bible but then Christmas is not there either is Easter, man created many hollidays for himself, but I must look up what you just asked.

Answer 7

Yes Catholics do.We will have special Mass's on Wednesday evening Thursday Evening

Answer 8

the religious holiday is not the night before, it is "All Saints Day" itself, on November 1

when I went to Catholic school, we were allowed to dress up as our namesake Saint

Answer 9

ha ha ha I am a christian and I do not celebrate Halloween, Christmas, or Easter....yeah explain why we color eggs to celebrate a Rabbit??? for Jesus Resurrection? we put trees and holly in our houses for Christs birth??? hmmm bet he wouldn't and dress as ghost ghouls vamps and tramps?? not interested thanks

Answer 10

being a reformed Christian, we always celebrated "Reformation Day" instead