The Catholic and French Origins of Halloween
Posted by Peter Lawler
And the witches are only a recent American addition. Trick or treat, though, began as anti-Catholic intimidation by English Protestants. Note to evangelicals: Its not a pagan thing. Happy Halloween!
7:54 PM / October 31, 2006
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Sorry, but I still fail to find anything in that version of the history that I would *want* my children to celebrate. Instead, at our house we use the evening of Oct 31 to focus our family Bible reading and prayer time on the theme of "not doing stuff just because everybody around us is doing it." I think its a good lead-in to the be-here-before-you-know-it Christmas season.
I suspect this is cockeyed history. This festival, which is a blend of Celtic Samhain and Roman Pomona, was disliked by the Catholic Church (for rather obvious reasons). To appropriate it, they created All Saints Day and All Hallows Eve (just as they appropriated Christmas from a variety of Roman/German solstice festivals). I suspect this article has the causality reversed. A few minor things associated with Halloween, like beggars night, is of more recent creation, of course.