Every year on October 31, the world celebrates the spooky holiday Halloween. Fun festivities happen throughout the month of October to celebrate the whole season of Halloween. Like most holidays, it has changed greatly from its roots and original traditions.
Halloween can be traced back thousands of years to the ancient Celtic Festival of Samhain. This holiday celebrated the end of summer and preparation for winter. It was believed that evil spirits and ghosts walked the Earth during this celebration. So, people wore costumes to disguise themselves from the spirits, which is where the modern costume tradition originated.
November 1, the day after Halloween, became known as All Saints Day in the 8th century. This was a Christian holiday to honor deceased saints. This day also became known as All Hallows Day, which is how October 31, the day before, came to be called All Hallows Eve and now, Halloween.
But the remembrance of saints is different from how Halloween is celebrated nowadays. Our modern Halloween started to develop when immigrants from Europe brought the holiday to America.
In the late 19th century, the Halloween tradition of trick-or-treating began when people would go door-to-door in costumes begging for money and food. Nowadays, kids go trick-or-treating for candy.
Over time, the holiday history of spirits and ghosts became the spooky celebrations we know today. Witches, zombies, ghosts, demons and other monsters are common costumes and decorations.
Halloween is known for its spooky theme, costumes and pumpkins. Although it is an innocent holiday celebrated for children, because of the eerie ways Halloween is celebrated, some people believe it is tied to devil worship. Different churches often have varying viewpoints on Halloween depending on the religion, but some refuse to celebrate it.
Jeremias Romero practices the Christian faith at ELIM Frederick and is a sophomore at Linganore High School (LHS) this year. Romero shared why his family does not celebrate Halloween and what they do instead.
“Halloween has a lot to do with demonic spirits,” Romero said. “If Halloween falls on a church day, we go to church and listen to the pastor preach about why Halloween is bad.”
LHS sophomore Alessandra Guglielmone shares why she thinks religion may be a touchy topic through Halloween.
“I know most religions see Halloween as devil Worship,” said Guglielmone.
Kevin Myers, assistant pastor at Church of the Redeemer, explains the alternate way they celebrate Halloween at Church of Redeemer.
“Here at Redeemer, we hold a Harvest Fest on Halloween as another option to celebrate Halloween at our church,” Myers said. “We follow the Bible and its teachings, and although Halloween isn’t supported, we like to give our church another reason to stop by and have innocent fun.”
Myers continued to share how the Church of Redeemer wants to celebrate the holiday, but in a more Biblically friendly direction.
