~ THE ORIGIN OF HALLOWEEN ~
October 31st had a great deal of significance among the ancient peoples of the British Isles - the Celts and their priests the Druids. They celebrated this day as the "Feast of the Dead."
The Celts believed that on the evening of October 31st, Samhain, the lord of the dead, called forth many evil spirits.
The Celts believed that the veil between our world and the spirit dimension was especially thin on this day.
These pagans were afraid of these evil spirits, so their Druid priests developed various occult practices to keep the spirits away, such as:
Dressing up on Halloween:
The ancient Celtic people would dress up in costumes on October 31st to confuse and ward off the evil spirits.
Giving away treats:
The Celts would leave treats at their doors to appease the spirits so that they would not destroy their homes or crops.
Carving pumpkins:
Witches
were said to use a skull with a candle in it to
light the way to their meetings.
There is also
the legend about "Irish Jack." Supposedly, the
devil threw a
burning coal at Jack, who caught it, and placed
it in a turnip.
Jack has been roaming the earth ever since with his "jack-o- lantern." Eventually, pumpkins replaced turnips, since it was easier to symbolize the devil's coal inside a pumpkin.
Another technique to scare away the evil spirits
was to carve a scary face into an object.
The people hoped that the frightening face would
cause the evil spirit to move on to someplace
else.
Do any of these pagan and occult practices sound familiar?
Later in history the Catholic Church tried to depaganize this day by calling it "Hallow Eve." However "Halloween," which means "holy evening," is still a most unholy night.
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