http://www.djournal.com/pages/story.asp?ID=205132&pub=1&div=Lifestyles
Hallowed or hellish? 10/28/2005 8:44:07 PM Daily Journal BY ERROL CASTENS Daily Journal Since early church members debated the keeping of Passover, Christians have wrestled with incorporating feasts, fasts and other festivals from a variety of backgrounds into their worship. Judging from the opinions that come from different Christian perspectives, All Hallowed Evening - better known as Halloween - is still open for debate. Old-world origins While Christmas, Easter and many other occasions observed by Christian churches originate in non-Christian customs, Halloween stands out as the holiday with some of the most overt connections to pagan beliefs. Much of its symbolism - darkness, witches, jack-o-lanterns - springs from Halloween's roots in seasonal observances in Northern Europe and the British Isles, where ancient peoples built fires and carved faces in turnips to scare away the evil spirits they believed were loosed at that division between summer and winter. They also believed that dressing as witches, ghosts and other evil characters would fool the "real" spirits into ignoring them or that leaving food offerings would appease them. Such occasions could hardly have been described as festive, as people often lived in terror at being overtaken by the spirits of the dead. Animal and even human sacrifices apparently were part of some rituals as well. As Christianity grew in influence in Europe, church leaders moved All Saints' Day, an occasion to honor the deceased faithful, from May 13 to Nov. 13, making the night of Oct. 31 All Saints' (Hallows') Eve. The move was calculated to supplant the Druids' and Celts' annual symbolism of dread with a new, Christ-oriented focus that asserted Jesus' pre-eminence over the powers of darkness. In most of Protestant-dominated America, Halloween was essentially ignored for centuries until the Potato Famine drew millions of Irish immigrants to the United States. In the New World they found pumpkins both more plentiful and easier to carve than turnips, giving rise to the holiday's most recognized symbol. Witness Most Catholics and many Protestants maintain a perspective on Halloween similar to that held by Christians in the Eighth Century. The Rev. Shannon Johnston, rector of All Saints' Episcopal Church in Tupelo, lays vigorous claim to the holiday. "Halloween is the time when Christians proclaim and celebrate the fact that Satan and the occult have no power over us and cannot disrupt our relationship with our Lord and Redeemer, as long as we live faithfully to Christ," he told his parishioners. "We do this by making fun of such pretenders, lampooning them in their face.' "In God's grace and your faithfulness, you are Christ's own forever; nothing supersedes that fact," Johnston added. "Halloween is therefore one of the boldest Christian witnesses; no other time is like it." Even some evangelicals share a similar view. "Christians certainly may be leery of sharing anything with modern pagans and Satanists who claim Halloween as theirs," wrote Anderson M. Rearick III in the evangelical magazine Christianity Today. "But who gave these individuals the right to claim the holiday? If they are Druids, they are celebrating Samhain, which is not Halloween but an even older holiday. As for Satanists, their calendar is a perversion of Christian seasons - there would be no Satanists if there were no Christians. Let them claim all they want. I give them nothing." Hank Hanegraaff, president of the Christian Research Institute and host of the daily radio show "Bible Answer Man," issued a similar statement. For Christianity to challenge pagan festivals with All Saints' Day "was a bold evangelistic move designed to demonstrate that only the power of the resurrected Christ could protect men and women from the destructive ploys of Satan and his minions," Hanegraaff wrote. "This was a time in which they boldly proclaimed the marvelous fact of the resurrection and the lordship of Jesus Christ." Catholic practice emphasizes the feasts that follow - starting with All Saints' Day on Nov. 1, which celebrates especially pious people of both ancient and recent times. "All Souls' Day on Nov. 2 would be a special time of prayer and remembrance of loved ones who have died," said the Rev. Bob Dalton, pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Aberdeen. "This is especially important in the Hispanic community, where the Day of the Dead' would be a great family time. In Mexico this would be a time to pack a picnic lunch and visit the cemetery. The roots of the feast are very religious." Bedeviling the devil A quick sampling of Web sites, magazines and other media indicate Halloween's dark origins or its often-inferred license for mayhem leads many Christians to eschew Halloween altogether or to substitute "harvest festivals" or "fall festivals." "In our family we decided not to celebrate a holiday that celebrates pagan and satanic themes," writes Melissa Bickerstaff, director of www.avirtuouswoman.org. Instead, she suggests family activities from hymn-singing hayrides to attending a church-based festival. Harrisburg Baptist Church in Tupelo is one of many area churches offering such a celebration. Its theme this year is borrowed from the biblical account of Jonah. "Some churches do pumpkins and costumes, but we don't do anything Halloweeny' in ours," said the Rev. David Smith, Harrisburg's minister of education. "Our carnival is actually more a Thanksgiving focus," with each booth emphasizing a different reason to be thankful, he said. Even among those who question its celebration, not everyone takes an isolationist approach to Halloween, however. Some Christians welcome the parade of visitors that Halloween brings to their door as another kind of evangelism opportunity, sharing both rich treats and religious tracts with doorbell ringers. Some churches take advantage of the built-in scariness of Halloween to present what they believe to be the ultimate terror. Faith Baptist Church in Starkville, for instance, hosts "Judgment: Tour Your Final Destination" as a way to compel conversions. "It's an eight-scene, walk-through drama with a storyline that relates to choices we make, either waiting to make a decision or choosing wrongly," said church secretary Shelley Addy. "It shows what would happen if you don't choose Christ. Visually, we try to show hell as a dark and depressing place, and heaven as the ultimate place you'd want to be." Begun seven years ago as an opportunity for Faith Baptist's youths to expose friends to the church's message, the event continues to compel. "We usually have about 10 percent of our attendees make decisions for Christ," Addy said. Appeared originally in the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, 10/29/2005 8:00:00 AM, section C , page 1 Nephilim's Paranormal Investigations - http://paranorm.cjb.net __________________________________ Yahoo! Mail - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005 http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/98XolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Visit our Psychic/Paranormal message boards at http://www.skatemd.com/forums/index.php Arcade, Journals, Chats, Boards, Fun! Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/paranormal_stuff/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! 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