About this site
About us
Our beliefs
Your first visit?
Contact us
External links
Good books
Visitor essays
Our forum
New essays
Other features
Buy a CD
Vital notes

World religions
BUDDHISM
CHRISTIANITY
 Who is a Christian?
 Shared beliefs
 Handle change
 Bible topics
 Bible inerrancy
 Bible harmony
 Interpret Bible
 Persons
 Beliefs, creeds
 Da Vinci code
 Revelation 666
 Denominations
HINDUISM
ISLAM
JUDAISM
WICCA / WITCHCRAFT
Other religions
Cults and NRMs
Comparing religions

Non-theistic...
Atheism
Agnosticism
Humanism
Other

About all religions
Main topics
Basic info.
Gods/Goddesses
Handling change
Doubt/security
Quotes
Movies
Confusing terms
Glossary
World's end
True religion?
Seasonal events
Science/Religion
More info.

Spiritual/ethics
Spirituality
Morality/ethics
Absolute truth

Peace/conflict
Attaining peace
Relig. tolerance
Relig. freedom
Relig. hatred
Relig. conflict
Relig. violence

"Hot" topics
Very hot topics
10 command.
Abortion
Assisted suicide
Cloning
Death penalty
Environment
Homosexuality
Human rights
Gay marriage
Nudism
Origins
Sex & gender
Sin
Spanking kids
Stem cells
Transexuality
Women-rights
Other topics

Laws and news
Religious laws
Religious news

 

Web site logo

Halloween

Facts and misinformation

Sponsored link.

Skull The Halloween season of OCT-31 to NOV-2 each year is unique. It includes:
bulletA Neopagan Sabbat: 
bulletSamhain, usually celebrated on or near the evening of OCT-31. It was originally a celebration of the final harvest of the growing season among the ancient Celts. It was also their new year celebration. Today, it is mainly celebrated by Wiccans and other Neo-Pagans
 
bulletThree Christian holy days: 
bulletAll Saints' Day (a.k.a. All Hallows' Day) on NOV-1. The holiday was first celebrated on 609-MAY-13 CE when Pope Boniface IV dedicated the Pantheon in Rome to the Virgin Mary. The date was later changed to NOV-1 by Pope Gregory III who dedicated a chapel in honor of all saints in the Vatican Basilica. Pope Gregory IV (827-844) later extended the feast to the whole church. The Eastern Orthodox churches celebrate All Saints Day in the springtime -- the Sunday after Pentecost.
 
bulletAll Souls' Day (a.k.a. the Day of the Dead) which is normally celebrated on NOV-2. When NOV-2 is a Sunday, as it was for the years 2003 and 2008, the celebration is held on the following Monday. This is a day for prayer and almsgiving in memory of ancestors who have died. Believers pray for the souls of the dead, in an effort to hasten their transition from Purgatory to Heaven. It is primarily celebrated by Roman Catholics. The day is believed to have been selected by "St. Odilo, the fifth abbot of Cluny...France because he wanted to follow the example of Cluny in offering special prayers and singing the Office of the Dead on the day following the feast of All Saints."
 
bulletSome Protestants celebrate Reformation Day. This is the anniversary of 1517-OCT-31 CE, the day that Martin Luther's published his 95 theses. These were criticisms of beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic church, particularly related to the sale of indulgences. He is widely believed to have published them in a dramatic manner, by nailing them to the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. Actually, that may never have happened. There is some evidence that he did write a letter to his superiors attacking the sale of indulgences; the 95 theses were merely appended to the letter. This triggered the Protestant Reformation, leading to a decades-long war in Europe, enmity between Catholics and Protestants, and the eventual fracture of Christianity into thousands of individual faith groups. 
 
bulletA secular celebration, Halloween on the evening of OCT-31. In some areas, if OCT-31 falls on a Sunday, Halloween is celebrated on the evening of OCT-30. Stores love Halloween. It is the festival when the largest amount of candy is sold. It is second only to Christmas in total commercial sales. The total sale of costumes, candy and other Halloween material  reached almost $7 billion in 2003. 2 A 2008 survey by the National Federation in the U.S., revealed that the average person was spending $66.54.

There is probably more misinformation circulated about these festivals than about any other yearly celebration.

Halloween topics covered:

bulletOpinions about Halloween by the public and by religious groups
 
bulletEvangelical Christian beliefs about Halloween
bulletHow Evangelicals celebrate the season
bulletAnalysis of inaccurate web sites on Halloween
bulletMore of the same
bulletAnalysis of accurate web sites on Halloween
bulletHell houses, Judgment Walks and Revelation Walks
 
bulletNeopagan beliefs about Halloween
 
bulletHalloween customs and traditions
 
bulletHoaxes about Halloween:
bullet"Razor blades in the apples" hoax
bulletRitual abuse and sacrificing black cats
bulletThe myth of Samhain: Celtic god of the dead

Sponsored link:

Vaguely related sections in this web site:

bulletThe Goth culture
bulletVampyres and vampires
bulletWicca

Interesting web sites related to Halloween:

bullet50 Spooky Faves has a list of 50 links to Halloween web sites at: http://www.all-4-free.com/
bulletArkadia has a list of links on various topics related to Halloween:
bulletReligious views at: http://www.arkadia.com/
bulletAnti-Halloween web sites at: http://www.arkadia.com/
bulletAll Saints Day at: http://www.arkadia.com/
bulletSamhain at: http://www.arkadia.com/
bullet"Bev" et al., have an essay on the "Day of the Dead," at: http://www.nacnet.org/ 
bulletCards: Many web sites allow you to send Halloween cards to friends:
bulletHalloween Greeting Cards at: http://www.halloweengreetingcards.com/
bullet123 Greetings  at: http://www.123greetings.com/events/halloween/ 
bulletGcards at http://gcards.com/halloween/
bulletRegards.com at: http://www.regards.com/
bulletHalloween Horrors at: http://www.halloweenhorrors.net
bulletDana's Designs supplied icons for our Halloween essays were contributed by . Thanks, Dana.
bulletThe Fright Catalog has been named "best overall" for Halloween shopping by the Wall Street Journal! See: http://www.frightcatalog.com
bulletGlow Inc. sells glow-in-the-dark powders and paints, particularly to the Fun House and Halloween community. See:  http://www.glowinc.com/
bulletHalloween Express has an immense variety of adult, kids, TV  & movie and other costumes. See: http://www.halloweenexpress.com/
bulletHalloween Manor offers a wide variety of costumes for children, teens, and adults. See: http://www.halloweenmanor.com/
bulletHaunted Fog has foggers (machines that generate fog), lighting products, flyers, Halloween E-Cards,  tombstones and many other products.
bulletThe Holiday Spot at Theholidayspot.com/  is a place to "celebrate the holidays." They have a well-written history of Halloween at: http://theholidayspot.com/ 
bulletNickscape.net has a list of links to online suppliers of Halloween costumes, decorations and party supplies. See: http://nickscape.net/

References used:

  1. Isaac Bonewits describes "The real origins of Halloween." It is a carefully researched essay at: http://www.neopagan.net/  He has other well researched essays at: http://www.neopagan.net/
  2. Geraldine Sealey, "Satan's Big Day? Culture Wars Don't Take a Holiday on Halloween," ABC News, 2003-OCT-31, at: http://abcnews.go.com/ This appears to be offline.
  3. "Samhain on the Cauldron" discusses the history of Halloween and the Pagan celebration of Samhain. See: http://www.ecauldron.com/p
  4. "The Halloween Myths: It's not evil, just misunderstood..." describes the many untrue fables and legends that have surrounded Halloween. See: http://altreligion.about.com/
  5. "Halloween: Myths, monsters and devils" analyzes the many errors in four essays about Halloween at: http://www.illusions.com/
  6. Elspeth Sapphire has a pleasant and accurate description of Halloween at: http://www.ecauldron.com/

Sponsored links:

Site navigation: Home page >  Christianity > Practices > Holy Days > here

Copyright © 1998 to 2009 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Last update and review: 2009-APR-26
Author: B.A. Robinson

line.gif (538 bytes)

Go to the previous page, or return to the Christian Holy Days menu, or to the Wiccan menu, or choose:

Google
Web ReligiousTolerance.org
Go to home page  We would really appreciate your help

E-mail us about errors, etc.  Purchase a CD of this web site

FreeFind search, lists of new essays...  Having problems printing our essays?

 

Sponsored link: