Halloween.

By Rod Mitchell in All Sorts

Looking at the origins of Halloween reminds everyone of what incredible connections we have - a reminder especially needed in these days of rampant individualism: everyone on earth, in heaven and on earth, are all part of one family of God.

DOES HALLOWEEN have anything to say to us about building (or diminishing) community?
On one night every year for the last four years we have carefully prepared our house to give the impression that we are not at home. What, you might ask, has caused this annual precaution? Let me give you some clues. About four years ago when the day of Halloween came around, we innocently answered the door to some young people wearing not very creative Halloween costumes and looking too old to be participating in what has become a children's dress-up, lolly-begging outing. Sadly, we had forgotten the significance of the date and were unprepared for the request of a "treat". With much apology, we sent the young people on their way. In response our agitated guests, delivered a series of eggs onto the back of our car and the side of our house. Naturally, this experience did not endear us to future Halloween celebrations. So we have chosen to avoid any unpleasant encounters by going into lockdown mode. I am sure many people could give us advice as to how better one might respond to a situation like this.
Now that, Halloween for this year has come and gone without incident, I am prompted to wonder about the origins and history of this celebration. Here is what I have gleaned from one account of the origins of Halloween.
As far as we can tell, Halloween comes to us from the old Celtic celebration held at the end of summer, marking that time when the spirits were beginning to stir more actively. According to popular lore, the spirits come out at night: as summer wanes, the days get shorter, the winter nights get longer and the goblins have more 'dark' time to work their mischief. To appease the spirits in leading up to the longer haunting time, pagans offered treats ensuring they were kept safe from the spirits' tricks. Of course, among the Celts, as always, there were those cunning citizens who were not above a little deceit; so some took to disguising themselves as evil spirits. In that disguise, people hoped the real spirits would leave them alone; and also, their disguise enabled them to go around stealing the treats people left for the real spirits. That's where we get the "trick or treat" tradition.
It was this kind of pagan rite that Christians met when they came to Ireland. As was their wise custom, they did not do away with Halloween altogether, but rather they baptised it; that is, they picked out what was true and edged out the superstitions. After all, the Christians figured, there is a spirit world - the angels, the saints in heaven - so maybe it was a good opportunity to draw these pagans into remembering all the spirits, but as kindly friends, as members of the mystical body, the communion of saints, as all of God's people, both living and dead, now united with us in his love. So the pagan custom of appeasing the spirits became the Christian holy time of remembering them; that is to say, to re- member, to re-join them in a vast holy community. Thus, All Hallows Eve emerged. The word hallow means holy, as in "hallowed be thy name". The celebration became a time of holy connection rather than an unholy time of fear. (The egg throwing incident we experienced four years ago, seems a long way away from a hallowing and holy time!)
Once the notion of remembering the holy ones now deceased was in place, it became relatively easy to introduce, in the fourth century, the feast of those spirits who weren't moving around, but were interceding for us. And so emerged the feast of All Saints placed at the end of summer, the day after All Hallows Eve.
This whole mix ultimately reminded everyone of what incredible connections we have - a reminder especially needed in those days of rampant individualism: everyone on earth, in heaven and on earth, are all part of one family of God. We are indeed what Jesus said: Vine and branches. At their heart, the feasts Halloween and All Saints, say we are all connected. We are never alone. We interact. We form one vast communion of saints and these feast days remind us of this great truth.
Like Christmas, Halloween, has been co-opted by the marketplace and has lost much of its spiritual power. How many, when sending their children out to "trick or treat" think of the faith connections of this celebration? When I turn my gaze close to home and consider our own actions in closing the curtains and refusing to answer the door each 31 October, I see our disconnecting from community as a contradiction of the heart and intention of Halloween. There is no community building in our response.
On the other hand our actions also remind us of how far faith understandings have disappeared from the consciousness of our modern communities. I, for one, would be happy to see Halloween die a natural death, particularly since we have recently bought a new car and had the outside of our house newly painted!!
Rod Mitchell