Please Don’t Ban Halloween
Do this Instead.
As I mentioned in another article, I love Halloween, and I am Pagan. Samhain (Pronounced: “Sow-wain”) is one of the two biggest holidays in the Wiccan calendar.
I remembered last year; my Catholic Eastern European senior mother didn’t want to give out candy because of the pandemic. Plus, she doesn’t like the secular Halloween with all the monsters representing it. So I ended up doing a Samhain ritual with her, which she didn’t have any issues with.
I have been pagan for close to 15 years now. I can talk to you all about it, but I would rather keep some things to myself. Besides, I know that, like all religions, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea.
But I’m not too fond of some Christian Fundamentalists who want to ban Halloween altogether because they think that it promotes all things evil. I doubt that that is the right thing to do at all.
If you dislike Halloween, with all the evil costumes, parties, horror movies, and trick or treaters, there is a way to celebrate October 31st without any fuss.
I’m going to explain how by talking about the original history of Halloween.
History of Halloween.
The original name for Halloween was Samhain (Again, pronounced: “Sow-wain”). It was originally a Celtic festival.
The name Samhain means “Summer’s End.” It’s a festival that was held on October 31st to celebrate the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. You can say that November 1st was the ancient Celtic New Year.
Samhain was also that time of the year when the veil between the realms of the dead and living was at their thinnest and the ancestors came out to play. The Celts made sure that they don’t offend their ancestors by leaving a place at the table for the dead to eat with them.
Of course, the Ancient Celts also lit bonfires and wore costumes just to scare off some ghostly ancestors who weren’t welcomed to the party.
And you know that Christianity came and turned Samhain into Halloween.
However, what you didn’t know is that today Europeans do not go out trick or treating on October 31st, as we do here in Canada and the U.S. They instead take their candles, flowers, families, and church congregations to the local cemetery and remember their ancestors that way.
You know that in Mexico they have the Day of the Dead or Dia de Los Muertos in November. They erect an altar with pictures of their ancestors with offering to them on it, in their homes, village cemetery, or church.
And all of us Pagan are celebrating the traditional Samhain almost the same way that the Ancient Celts did.
So Instead of Banning Halloween…
Why not celebrate it the way that the Ancient Celts, modern Europeans, and Mexicans do: Just honor the ancestors that came before you. That’s what it was all about in the beginning.
You can do it by creating an altar with pictures of your dead family members, or go to the cemetery to remember them. Or whatever creative way you can remember those loved ones that have gone before you.
This might be a good time to finally do something for someone who died within this past year as well, to remember them by.
So, leave the secular trick or treating, monsters, or costume parties to those who love Halloween. Let them have their fun. Instead, create your own way to remember dead loved ones on October 31st.
For those of you who love Halloween and know someone who doesn’t send them this article to let them know.
References
History.com. (2021, April 27). Halloween 2021. History.com. https://www.history.com/topics/halloween/history-of-halloween
National Geographic. (n.d.). Halloween History. Youtube.com. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-VRAemIvbI&t=2s
Wikipedia.org. (n.d.). Day of the Dead. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_Dead
Wikipedia.org. (n.d.). Samhain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samhain