Letters to the Editor
Harvest Vs. Halloween Celebration
To the editor:
Halloween started with many churches observing an event called “all hallows eve.” later called “holy evening,” eventually translated to today’s “Halloween.” It took place the evening before All Saints Day on November 1 and All Souls Day November 2. In 1845 Irish immigrants came to America, bringing with them the Druid Holiday honoring the pagan worship of death and evil. It spread across America and became associated with witchcraft and the satanic cult ... some countries celebrate it as “The Day of the Dead.” The dead come back to fellowship with us in a reunion type of celebration. The Bible does not support that type of visit from those gone before us.
Our God is a God of life, but this celebration focuses on death. Not sure we should be celebrating a holiday where homes and businesses are decorated with tombstones, witches, and skeletons. I read where Halloween is a sacred, high holiday for Wicans (the official religion of witchcraft). Those of us who profess the God of the Bible as the one true God need to separate ourselves from this type of activity. Exodus 20:2-3: “I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”
The Fall celebration was God’s idea 1700 years BC as reflected in Exodus 23:17: “And the feast of harvest, the first fruits of your labors, which you have sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when you have gathered in your labors out of the field.”
Additionally, the Bible gives specific instructions as to feasts that should be celebrated here on Earth and throughout Eternity. Deuteronomy 16:16-17: “Three times in a year shall all males appear before the Lord your God in the place He shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread (Passover), and in the feast of weeks (Pentecost,) and in the feast of tabernacles (Harvest): and they shall not appear before the Lord empty: 17 Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which he has given to you.”
Halloween has become one of the most celebrated feasts in America and I’m not against celebrations. However, it grieves me to see how we have lost the true reason for celebrating the Fall Harvest and giving thanks to the Creator for the many blessings in this land of freedom. Nothing wrong with youngsters going house to house and sharing in the graciousness of neighbors and friends. Along with that we need to remind ourselves and others ... the Fall Celebration is God’s idea instituted almost 4,000 years ago. And yes, He will have the final say over what celebrations are acceptable to Him.