ALL
HALLOWS EVE!
Rom
13:7
7
Render
therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom
custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.
Halloween,
or All Hallows Eve,
can’t be found anywhere in the Bible. It was a festival celebrated by the Greek
Church the week after Whitsuntide, and by the Roman Catholics on the 1st of
November, in honor of all saints and martyrs.
It
was introduced
into the Western Church in the beginning of the seventh century by Boniface.
The number of saints being excessively multiplied, it was found too burdensome
to dedicate a feast-day to each, there being, indeed, scarcely hours enough in
the year to distribute among them all. It was therefore resolved to commemorate
on one day all who had no particular days. By an order of Gregory IV, it was
celebrated on the 1st of November, 834.
(from
McClintock and Strong Encyclopedia, Electronic Database. Copyright © 2000,
2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
Christians adhering to All Souls’ Day practices commonly used soul cakes; these cakes were
given to those individuals that were poor so that the poor would, in turn,
offer up prayers for the deceased. This tradition also stems back to ancient
pagan practices where foods would be left out for the deceased to
either satiate “hungry ghosts” or to appease and/or honor the deceased that
would return on Samhain to visit their living relatives. In addition,
poor people would practice the tradition of “souling” where they would go
door-to-door in wealthy neighborhoods in order to get soul cakes, alms, and
fruit. This was the origins of the modern day practice of
"trick-or-treating" where children in costumes go from door to door
to get Halloween candy. - See more at: http://historyofhalloween.net/page1.html#sthash.r54R8s9o.dpuf
That Halloween has pagan roots is undeniable. Whether we should participate in the festivities is a
matter of some controversy. The Bible is silent about Halloween because it is a
man-made holiday.
Rom
14:5
5
One
man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let
every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
No comments:
Post a Comment