Halloween Explained

Yes, Halloween has Christian origins...but first a bit of scripture. 

John 11:32-44
When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus began to weep So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?" Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, "Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me." When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus come out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him and let him go."

So...zombies for Halloween?

Nope, not even close.  This is Jesus taking a really dead person, and bringing them back to life...real life. But it is Halloween weekend and that sort of thing is on people's minds.  But why?  Where did Halloween come from anyway?  Well, like I said, it is a church holiday. 

Halloween:
First:  The name Halloween is an abbreviation/foreshortening of the phrase "All Hallows Eve"  This is exactly like the phrase "Christmas Eve", as in, "the day before _____".  In this case the day before All Saints (or All Hallows) Day.

All Saints Day is the day the church sets aside to remember our members who have died that year and be reminded of the promise that we have life eternal in Christ Jesus.

Halloween:
Second: There is a pervasive myth that Halloween started as a pagan holiday called Samhain (pronounced sow-En...why, I don't know) and that the church invented Halloween based on it.  This is a recent urban myth as there is absolutely no evidence connecting the two together. Modern day New-Agers are pretty keen to insist that they are connected, but it is strictly rumor and a blatant attempt on the part of the new neo-pagans to steal one of our holidays. All of this can be said with some certainty as the Church had been celebrating this holiday for  hundreds years before encountering the people of Northern Ireland who celebrated Samhain. You may even hear that Jack-O-Lanterns are pagan too, but wrong again.  They're based off of a Christian folk tale:

Once upon a time there was a fellow named Jack (aren't all tall tale heroes named Jack?).  Jack was a wicked schemer who came up with a plan to fool the devil.  So, one day Jack tricked the devil into climbing a tall oak tree and while up there Jack carved a cross on the trunk so the devil could not climb down.  Then Jack made a deal with the devil that if he let him down the devil would have to promise to never again to tempt him.  The devil was fine with this deal as he knew Jack was full of enough wickedness without his help and agreed.  When Jack died, heaven would not let him in because he was a unbelieving sinner and hell would not let him in because the devil held a grudge. So, Jack carved himself a lanterns out of a turnip (a common thing to do back then)  and set out to wander the world looking for a place to call home.  On the night before All Saints Day we still carve vegetable lanterns to remind ourselves that you can't trick your way into heaven....or at least that is the way the tradition started.  

Halloween:

Third: Halloween is about scary things.  Well, sort of.  Let's be honest, death is scary. Halloween is about remembering the saints that have passed on into the church triumphant that year.  So, we are remembering the dead for a day. Death can be scary.

So where did all the other scary stuff come from?  Well, there was a Christian superstition that went like this: If we are going to commemorate the dead, then I bet the souls of the departed would want to come and witness the event.  So, there must be ghosts showing up for the festivities on All Saints Day.

Folks took that superstition and ran with it.  One of the most pervasive elements was that people would pull pranks and blame it on the ghosts.  This was a fun but scary way to celebrate the holiday and it  gave us the "TRICKS".  Folks also would set out sweets for ghosts to enjoy, especially "soul cakes".  Since kids usually were allowed to steal the treats (often in disguise to make it more fun...this was called "souling") eventually it became a habit just to give them to kids in disguises or costumes as a "TREAT".

Get it... "Trick or Treat".

The other scary things found their way into the day because it's fun to get a little scared. Nothing more, nothing less. Yes, occultists, satanists, and all those other nut-case "ISTS" have borrowed our day for their own nefarious purposes but rest assured, Halloween was never intended to be a "pagan holiday".

All Saints Day is a day to remember that what Jesus did for Lazarus he will do for you and me too.  That is the other side to the coin of Halloween that when the morning comes we are reminded that there is actually nothing to be afraid of, as Jesus has conquered death itself.