Have you noticed that each year the overall tone of Halloween just continues to get darker and darker? The movies keep getting more graphic, the decorations keep getting more gory and even the costumes keep getting more twisted. When I was growing up, I remember watching relatively benign cartoons such as “It’s A Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown”, and on Halloween night we would put on our silly store-bought costumes and go trick-or-treating. It was always a little bit difficult breathing through the stupid plastic masks, but my siblings and I were eager to gather lots of candy from the neighbors. Of course as a child I had no idea what the real meaning of Halloween was, and so I eagerly participated in the festivities. During those years, I just thought it was a time to dress up as my favorite cartoon character and eat candy until I felt ill. (Read More...)
When Did Halloween Begin?
Halloween Warning: Here Are 15 Reasons Why You Should Not Celebrate “The Devil’s Holiday”
Halloween has become one of the most important holidays in the United States, and thanks to relentless marketing it is now celebrated in virtually every nation on the entire planet. According to the National Retail Federation, Americans will spend a whopping 8.8 billion dollars on Halloween this year, and most of that money will be spent on costumes, candy and decorations. The vast majority of the U.S. population will participate in some form of Halloween festivities, and most of them probably don’t want to hear anything “negative” about a holiday that they really look forward to enjoying. But should we actually be celebrating this holiday? After reading what I have to share with you below, you may be forced to reconsider what you believe about Halloween. (Read More...)
Where Does The Tradition Of Wearing Halloween Costumes Come From?
The modern tradition of wearing costumes on Halloween can be traced back more than 2000 years to the Celts of ancient Britain. During a Druidic festival known as Samhain, which is still celebrated by Wiccans and other modern pagans, revelers would often wear masks or costumes. In modern times wearing costumes is considered to be “innocent fun”, but in those times the masks and costumes were worn for very specific spiritual purposes. For some, the goal was to ward off evil spirits, but for others the purpose of the mask or costume was to help the participant communicate with the spirit world. And as you will see below, there are some that still believe in this practice today. (Read More...)
18 Reasons Why I Don’t Celebrate Halloween
This year, 64 percent of all Americans will celebrate Halloween, but I will not be one of them. For me, it is a wretched, horrible holiday that celebrates the darkest side of humanity, and it is deeply rooted in ancient pagan traditions that would get people thrown in prison if they attempted to duplicate them today. With each passing year, the sexually suggestive costumes being marketed to our young girls become even skankier, the horror movies become darker and even more demonic, and the number of Americans that participate in occult ceremonies just continues to grow. In fact, it has been estimated that the number of self-identified witches in the United States is doubling every 30 months. Those that are deeply into the occult take this holiday very seriously, and the dark forces that they are dealing with are very real. So no, I don’t want anything to do with this festival of death. In no particular order, the following are 18 reasons why I don’t celebrate Halloween… (Read More...)
The Pagan Roots Of Halloween
Most people that celebrate Halloween have absolutely no idea what they are actually celebrating. Even though approximately 70 percent of Americans will participate in Halloween festivities once again this year, the vast majority of them are clueless about the fact that this is a holiday that is thousands of years old and that has deeply pagan roots. If you are going to celebrate something, shouldn’t you at least know what you are celebrating? Before it was ever known as Halloween, this festival was known as Samhain. According to Wikipedia, Samhain “is mentioned in some of the earliest Irish literature and is known to have pre-Christian roots”. The ancient Celts believed that Samhain was the time when the veil between the spirit world and our world was lifted and the ghosts of the dead were able to freely mingle with the living. It was also a time to honor the Lord of the Dead known as Bel (note the similarity to Baal) or Chrom. Almost every major Halloween tradition including the jack-o’-lantern, trick-or-treating and wearing costumes is rooted in ancient Celtic practices. In many areas of early America, Halloween was considered to be so evil that it was banned. But today most Americans don’t even think twice about celebrating it. (Read More...)