Halloween, Samhain, All Saints' Day

Facts and misinformation

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The Halloween season of OCT-31 to NOV-2 each year is unique. It includes:

	A Neopagan Sabbat:  Samhain, 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
	Three Christian holy days:  All 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.   All 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." 1    Some 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.
	A 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:

	Opinions about Halloween: By the public   By religious groups
	Analysis of websites dealing with Halloween: Four web sites   More of the same   Accurate web sites on Halloween
	Evangelical Christian beliefs about Halloween   How Evangelicals celebrate the season   Hell houses, Judgment houses. revelation walks, etc.
	Neopagan beliefs about Halloween
	Halloween customs and traditions
	Hoaxes about Halloween: "Razor blades in the apples" hoax   Ritual abuse and sacrificing black cats   The myth of Samhain: Celtic god of the dead

Vaguely related sections in this web site:

	The Goth culture
	Vampyres and vampires
	Wicca

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Interesting web sites related to Halloween:

	The Neverendingwonder Radio Empire broadcasts halloween songs, comedy, musicals, etc. via the Internet. See: http://www.neverendingwonder.com/
	"Bev" et al., have an essay on the "Day of the Dead," at: http://www.nacnet.org/
	Cards: Many web sites allow you to send Halloween cards to friends: Care2.com has Halloween cards with a difference. They have 250 free eCards from which you can choose. For each free card sent via Email, Care2 makes a donation to an environmental nonprofit to save a square foot of rainforest! That's 929.030 square centimeters! Did I mention they are free? See: http://www.care2.com/   Halloween Greeting Cards at: http://www.halloweengreetingcards.com/   123 Greetings  at: http://www.123greetings.com/events/halloween/    Regards.com at: http://www.regards.com/   Halloween Horrors at: http://www.halloweenhorrors.net
	Dana's Designs supplied icons for our Halloween essays. Thanks, Dana.
	The Fright Catalog has been named "best overall" for Halloween shopping by the Wall Street Journal! See: http://www.frightcatalog.com
	Glow Inc. sells glow-in-the-dark powders and paints, particularly to the Fun House and Halloween community. See:  http://www.glowinc.com/
	Halloween Express has an immense variety of adult, kids, TV  & movie and other costumes. See: http://www.halloweenexpress.com/
	Halloween Manor offers a wide variety of costumes for children, teens, and adults. See: http://www.halloweenmanor.com/
	Haunted Fog has foggers (machines that generate fog), lighting products, flyers, Halloween E-Cards,  tombstones and many other products.
	The Holiday Spot at Theholidayspot.com/  is a place to "celebrate the holidays." They have a well-written history of Halloween at: http://theholidayspot.com/
	Nickscape.net has a list of links to online suppliers of Halloween costumes, decorations and party supplies. See: http://nickscape.net/
	Pure Costumes carries "... a large selection of Halloween costumes for adults, kids, teens, pre teens - tweens, and plus size, as well as wigs, masks and  accessories. See: http://www.purecostumes.com/

References used:

The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.

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 is now offline.
3. "Samhain on the Cauldron" discusses the history of Halloween and the Pagan celebration of Samhain. See: http://www.ecauldron.com/p
4. David Beaulieu, "Origins of Halloween, All Hallows' Eve," About.com, at: http://landscaping.about.com/
5. "Halloween: Myths, monsters and devils" analyzes the many errors in four essays about Halloween at: http://www.featherlessbiped.com/
6. Elspeth Sapphire has a pleasant and accurate description of Halloween at: http://www.ecauldron.net/

   

Copyright © 1998 to 2009 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Last update and review: 2009-OCT-04
Author: B.A. Robinson

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