In the Christian calendar November 1st is All Saints or All Hallows Day, so the evening of October 31st is All Hallows Eve or E’en. This is the origin of the word “Halloween”, and so we see that even this most nonsensical of modern celebrations makes a little bit of sense. But there’s more.
At about this time of year, as light gave way to darkness, our pagan ancestors, particularly the Celts, believed that the border between the living and the dead, became thin. They imagined that the spirits of the dead, both friendly and unfriendly, could pass into our world and visit acts of benevolence or mischief upon us. So it stands to reason that they left out goodies to honour and encourage the friendly spirits, and wore masks to fool the others. But what a hassle!
Of course we now know that it’s cultural imperialism, if not a crime against humanity, for Christian missionaries to mess with the way people “choose” to live their lives. – Today this work is reserved for multinational corporations, the UN, Green Peace, and countless other non-Christian missionary organizations. – But I suspect that our ancestors were, nonetheless, relieved when Saint Patrick and his friends showed up and taught them about a loving God who takes care of all that “spirit” stuff, so the dead can get on with being dead, and we with living.
Next Sunday, All Saints Day, Christians will gather with all the saints, both those on earth (the Church Militant), and those in heaven (the Church Triumphant), to worship the living God. And we will celebrate the peace that comes from knowing that we need not fear the living or the dead while we are his.
So, lets all go out next Saturday night and make ghouls of ourselves, remembering that Halloween is actually a gift from our pagan ancestors, and St Paddy and his friends. The former came up with this funny idea, but it was the latter who made it fun.
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