“There shall not be found among you any that maketh his son or daughter to pass through the fire, or useth divination, or an observer of time, or an enchanter, or a witch. Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD” (Deut. 18: 10-12).
Celebrating Halloween, though innocent as it may seem to most, had its beginning in a Druidic and Celtic pagan festival in which both animal and human sacrifices were made. The book “The Worship of the Dead” points out that on this day, festivities took place to honor the people whom God destroyed because of their wickedness in Noah’s day.
The present day wearing of masks and costumes originated with the people of ancient time wearing masks because they thought they could fool the demons into thinking they were another demon and would be left alone.
Trick-or-treat came from the fact that the Druid priest would go door to door demanding a human sacrifice for their religious rituals. If one was not provided, the house was marked with a hexagram. The priest would later burn down the house or work some evil against the family. The human sacrifices were tied and dragged behind a wagon until all the victims in the community were collected. A bonfire (bone-fire) would be built, and the victim was asked if they wanted to be put to death immediately or if they would like to try their luck at bobbing for apples in boiling oil. (Thus the origin of the custom of bobbing for apples.) Other victims were locked in wicker and straw baskets and set afire, being roasted alive by the Druid Priests.
The Celts and Druids believed that Samhain (meaning lord of the dead) gathered all the souls of them that had died the previous year to release them from the bodies of the lower animals to which they had been confined. This ritual was practiced in order that they might atone for their sins. By the next day, their sins had been atoned through the blood sacrifice of animals and humans, and they were free to go to the true heaven.
The Celts and Druids celebrated this three-day fire festival from Oct. 29th to Oct. 31st, ending with their high holy day. These bonfires or “bone-fires” were called Belteins or Bel’s fire. Bael or Beil was the Celtic god of light or Sun-god. “It has been usual to identify the worship of the Celtic Bael with that of the Baal or Bel of the Phoenicians and other Semitic nations.” On this day, they worshiped spirits of the dead.
Halloween or Halloweven (hallow and even) is the name of the eve or vigil of All Saints. As the date of that vigil is Nov. 1, Halloween is the evening of Oct. 31.
Unable to destroy these pagan rites, Catholicism sought to give them some holy connotation by associating them with rites of their own. They either appointed a Catholic festival at the time of the heathen celebration or tried to shift the time of a heathen festival to one already fixed by Catholicism. For it was the policy of Catholic leaders to supplant heathen festivals by Catholic observances.
Halloween is the wedding of an occult pagan festival with an unbiblical Catholic observance.
Participating in Halloween festivities doesn’t necessarily mean one is guilty of involvement with the occult, but it is a celebration of its dark origin and its forces of darkness. In order to steer people away from its celebration, many people find alternate activities or festivities on October 31 that are not in any way associated with Halloween.
“. . . what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial (Satan)?” (2 Cor. 6: 14, 15).
