From news@news.ysu.edu Wed Nov 3 22:51:20 1993 Received: from rodan.UU.NET by aramis.rutgers.edu (5.59/SMI4.0/RU1.5/3.08) id AA06947; Wed, 3 Nov 93 22:51:20 EST Received: from relay1.UU.NET by rodan.UU.NET with SMTP (5.61/UUNET-mail-drop) id AA17442; Wed, 3 Nov 93 22:51:19 -0500 Received: from news.ysu.edu by relay1.UU.NET with SMTP (5.61/UUNET-internet-primary) id AB03099; Wed, 3 Nov 93 22:51:14 -0500 Received: by news.ysu.edu id AA16066 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for soc-religion-christian@relay1.uu.net); Wed, 3 Nov 1993 22:58:24 -0500 To: soc-religion-christian@relay1.uu.net Path: yfn.ysu.edu!ak719 From: ak719@yfn.ysu.edu (Patrick Thomas) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Halloween Date: 4 Nov 1993 03:58:23 GMT Organization: St. Elizabeth Hospital, Youngstown, OH Lines: 28 Message-Id: <2b9ukv$fm0@news.ysu.edu> References: Reply-To: ak719@yfn.ysu.edu (Patrick Thomas) Nntp-Posting-Host: yfn.ysu.edu In a previous article, sam@vu-vlsi.ee.vill.edu (samuel) says: > > I'm new in this country. And I've been told by some very good christians >that it is better not to celebrate halloween. So I've taken their advice >and am not jioning in any kind of celebration. Now I would like to know >exactly what this festival is all about and why it is better not to celebrate >it. I will be thankful for any kind of help. > Yours in Christ > Before the Puritan crackdown against all Christian holiday- keeping that occurred in the sixteenth century, Christian village children celebrated the vigil of All Saints (aka All Hallows)--which is in no way related to All Souls Day--by doing what came to be known as the Danse Macabre. Since the prototypical martyrs were the Seven Brethren whose grizzly death is described in the seventh chapter of the deuterocanonical book of Second Macabees, the children would dress in grizzly costumes to symbolize the horrible yet joyous deaths of the Brethren. In the Danse (the word Macabre derives from Macabee), they would parade through the village accompanied perhaps by a person in a skeleton suit representing death, to show their fearlessness of death. The idea that Halloween was a Christian superimposition upon a prior pagan feast is mere theosophical propaganda, with no basis in fact that I know of. This misinformed idea is ironically spread by "Christian" broadcasting stations, eager for sensational entertainment for their listeners. Path: christian Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian From: jmw1@ra.msstate.edu (John Westerburg) Subject: Clearing up Halloween misconceptions Organization: Mississippi State University Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu I found this article on a BBS. It gives a good, well researched history of Halloween and it's signifigance to the Celts. I hope that it can clear up some of the false statements about Halloween that are made every year by uninformed (and I like to think well meaning) christians. ====================================================================== The Origins of Halloween In recent years, there have been a number of pamphlets put out by various Christian organizations dealing with the origins of modern day Halloween customs. Being a Witch myself, and a student of the ancient Celts, from whom we get this holiday, I have found these pamphlets woefully inaccurate and poorly researched. In an effort to correct some of this erroneous information, I have spent several months researching the religious life of the ancient Celtic peoples and the survivals of that religious life in modern day times. Listed below are some of the most commonly asked questions concerning the origins and customs of Halloween. Following the questions is a lengthy bibliography where the curious reader can go to learn more about this holiday than space in this small pamphlet permits. 1. Where does Halloween come from? Our modern celebration of Halloween is a descendent of the ancient Celtic fire festival called "Samhain". The word is pronounced "sow-in", with "sow" rhyming with cow. 2. What does "Samhain" mean? The Irish English dictionary published by the Irish Texts Society defines the word as follows: "Samhain, All Hallowtide, the feast of the dead in Pagan and Christian times, signalizing the close of harvest and the initiation of the winter season, lasting till May, during which troops (esp. the Fiann) were quartered. Faeries were imagined as particularly active at this season. From it the half year is reckoned. also called Feile Moingfinne (Snow Goddess).(1) The Scottish Gaelis Dictionary defines it as "Hallowtide. The Feast of All Soula. Sam + Fuin = end of summer."(2) Contrary to the information published by many organizations, there is no archaeological or literary evidence to indicate that Samhain was a deity. The Celtic Gods of the dead were Gwynn ap Nudd for the British, and Arawn for the Welsh. The Irish did not have a "lord of death" as such. 3. Why was the end of summer of significance to the Celts? The Celts were a pastoral people as opposed to an agricultural people. The end of summer was significant to them because it meant the time of year when the structure of their lives changed radically. The cattle were brought down from the summer pastures in the hills and the people were gathered into the houses for the long winter nights of story- telling and handicrafts. 4. What does it have to do with a festival of the dead? The Celts believed that when people died, they went to a land of eternal youth and happiness called Tir nan Og. They did not have the concept of heaven and hell that the Christian church later brought into the land. The dead were sometimes believed to be dwelling with the Fairy Folk, who lived in the numerous mounds or sidhe (pron. "shee") that dotted the Irish and Scottish countryside. Samhain was the new year to the Celts. In the Celtic belief system, turning points, such as the time between one day and the next, the meeting of sea and shore, or the turning of one year into the next were seen as magickal times. The turning of the year was the most potent of these times. This was the time when the "veil between the worlds" was at its thinnest, and the living could communicate with their beloved dead in Tir nan Og. 5. What about the aspects of "evil" that we associate with the night today? The Celts did not have demons and devils in their belief system. The fairies, however, were often considered hostile and dangerous to humans because they were seen as being resentful of men taking over their lands. On this night, they would sometimes trick humans into becoming lost in the fairy mounds, where they would be trapped forever. After the coming of the Christians to the Celtic lands, certain of the folk saw the fairies as those angels who had sided neither with Gor or with Lucifer in their dispute, and thus, were condemned to walk the earth until judgment day.(3) In addition to the fairies, many humans were abroad on this night, causing mischief. since this night belonged neither to one year or the other, Celtic folk believed that chaos reigned and the people would engage in "horseplay and practical jokes".(4) This served also as a final outlet for high spirits before the gloom of winter set in. 6. What about "trick or treat"? During the course of these hijinks, many of the people would imitate the fairies and go from house to house begging for treats. Failure to supply the treats would usually result in practical jokes being visited on the owner of the house. Since the fairies were abroad on this night, an offering of food or milk was frequently left for them on the steps of the house, so the homeowner could gain the blessings of the "good folk" for the coming year. Many of the households would also leave out a "dumb supper" for the spirits of the departed.(5) The folks who were abroad in the night imitating the fairies would some- times carry turnips carved to represent faces. This is the origin of our modern Jack-o-lantern. 7. Was this also a religious festival? Yes. Celtic religion was very closely tied to the Earth. Their great legends are concerned with momentous happenings which took place around the time of Samhain. many of the great battles and legends of kings and heroes center on this night. Many of the legends concern the promotion of fertility of the earth and the insurance of the continuance of the lives of the people through the dark winter season. 8. How was the religious festival observed? Unfortunately, we know very little about that. W.G. Wood-Martin, in his book, "Traces of the Elder Faiths of Ireland" states, "There is comparitively little trace of the religion of the Druids now discoverable, save in the folklore of the peasantry, and the references relative to it that occur in ancient and authentic Irish manuscripts are, as far as present appearances go, meagre and insufficient to support anything like a sound theory for full development of the ancient religion."(6) The Druids were the priests of the Celtic peoples. They passed on their teachings by oral tradition instead of committing them to writing, so when they perished, most of their religious teachings were lost. We DO know that this festival was characterized as one of the four great "Fire Festivals" of the Celts. Legends tell us that on this night, all the hearth fires in Ireland were extinguished, and then re-lit from the central fire of the Druids at Tlachtga, 12 miles from the royal hill of Tara. This fire was kindled from "need fire" which had been generated by the friction of rubbing two sticks together as opposed to more conventional methods common in those days.(7) The extinguishing of the fires symbolized the "dark half" of the year, and the re-kindling from the Druidic fires was symbolic of the returning life hoped for, and brought about through the ministrations of the priesthood. 9. What about sacrifices? Animals were certainly killed at this time of year. This was the time to "cull" from the herds those animals which were not desired for breeding purposes for the next year. Most certainly, some of these would have been done in a ritualistic manner for the use of the priesthood. 10. Were humans sacrificed? Scholars are sharply divided on this account, with about half believing that it took place and half doubting its veracity. Caesar and Tacitus certainly tell tales of the human sacrifices of the Celts, but Nora Chadwick points out in her book "The Celts" that "it is not without interest that the Romans themselves had abolished human sacrifices not long before Caesar's time, and references to the practice among various barbarian peoples have certain overtones of self-righteousness. There is little direct archaeological evidence relevant to Celtic sacrifice." (8) Indeed, there is little reference to this practice in Celtic literature either. The only surviving story echoes the story of the Minotaur in Greek legend. The Fomorians, a race of evil giants said to inhabit portions of Ireland before the coming of the Tuatha de Danaan, or "people of the Goddess Danu",demanded the sacrifice of 2/3 of the corn, milk, and first born children of the Fir Bolg, or human inhabitants of Ireland. The De Danaan ended this practice in the second battle of Moy Tura, which incidentally took place on Samhain. 11. What other practices were associated with this season? Folk tradition tells us of many divination practices associated with Samhain. Among the most common were divinations dealing with marriage, weather, and the coming fortunes for the year. These were performed via such methods as ducking for apples, and apple peeling. Ducking for apples was a marriage divination. The first person to bite an apple would be the first to marry in the coming year. Apple peeling was a divination tosee how long your life would be. The longer the unbroken apple peel, the longer your life was destined to be.(9) In Scotland, people would place stones in the ashes of the hearth before retiring for the night. Anyone whose stone had been disturbed during the night was said to be destined to die during the coming year. 12. How did these ancient Celtic practices come to America? When the potato crop in Ireland failed, many of the Irish people, modern day descendents of the Celts, immigrated to America, bringing with them their folk practices, which are the remnants of the Celtic festival observances. 13. We in America view this as a harvest festival. Did the Celts also view it as such? Yes. The Celts had 3 harvests: Aug 1, or Lammas, was the first harvest, when the first fruits were offered to the Gods in thanks. The Fall Equinox was the "true harvest". This was when the bulk of the crops would be brought in. Samhain was the final harvest of the year. Anything left on the vines or in the fields after this date was considered blasted by the fairies, or "pu'ka", and unfit for human consumption. 14. Does anyone today celebrate Samhain as a religious observance? Yes. many followers of various pagan religions, such as Druids and Wiccans observe this day as a religious festival. They view it as a memorial day for their dead friends, similar to the national holiday of Memorial Day in May. It is still a night to practice various forms of divination concerning future events. Also, it is considered a time to wrap up old projects, take stock of ones life, and initiate new projects for the coming year. As the winter season is approaching, it is a good time to do studying on research projects and also a goot time to begin hand work such as sewing, leather working, woodworking, etc. for Yule gifts later in the year. 15. Does this involve human or animal sacrifice? Absolutely NOT! Hollywood to the contrary, blood sacrifice is not practiced by modern day followers of Wicca or Druidism. There may be some people who THINK they are practicing Wicca by performing blood sacrifices, but this is NOT condoned by reputable practitioners of the modern day NeoPagan religions. FOOTNOTES: (1) Rev. Patrick Dineen, "An Irish English Dictionary" (Dublin, 1927), p. 937 (2) Malcolm MacLennan, "A Pronouncing and Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language" (Aberdeen, 1979), p. 279 (3) W.G. Wood-Martin,"Traces of the Elder Faiths of Ireland" (Port Washington, 1902), p. 5. (4) Kevin Danaher,"The Year in Ireland", (Cork,1972), p. 214 (5) Alwyn & Brinley Rees,"Celtic Heritage" (New York,1961), p. 90 (6) Wood-Martin, p. 249 (7) Rees & Rees, p. 90 (8) Nora Chadwick, "The Celts" (Harmondsworth,1982), p. 151 (9) Madeleine Pelner Cosman, "Medieval Holidays and Festivals," (New York, 1981), p. 81 Bord, Janet & Colin, "The Secret Country", London: Paladin Books, 1978 Chadwick, Nora, "The Celts", Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1982 Coglan, Ronan, "A Dictionary of Irish Myth and Legend", Dublin,1979 Cosman, Madeleine Pelner, "Medieval Holidays and Festivals", New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1981 Danaher, Kevin, "The Year in Ireland", Cork: The Mercier Press, 1972 Dineen, Rev. Patrick S.,M.A, "An Irish English Dictionary", Dublin: The Irish texts Society, 1927 MacCana, Proinsias, "Celtic Mythology", London: The Hamlyn Publishing Group Limited, 1970 MacLennan, Malcolm, "A Pronouncing and Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language", Aberdeen: Acair and Aberdeen University Press, 1979 MacNeill, Maire', "The Festival of Lughnasa", Dublin: Comhairle Bhealoideas Eireann,1982 Powell, T.G., E., "The Celts", New York: Thanes & Hudson,1980 Rees, Alwyn and Brinley, "Celtic Heritage, Ancient Traditions in Ireland and Wales", New York: Thanes & Hudson, 1961 Sharkey, John, "Celtic Mysteries", New York: Thanes and Hudson, 1975 Spence, Lewis, "British Fairy Origins", Wellingborough: Aquarian Press, 1946 Squire, Charles, "Celtic Myth & Legend, Poetry & Romance", New York: Newcastle Publishing Co, Inc. 1975 Toulson, Shirley, "The Winter Solstice", London: Jill Norman & Hobhouse, Ltd, 1981 Wood-Martin, W.G., "Traces of the Elder Faiths of Ireland, Vols I & II, Port Washington: Kennikat Press, 1902 (c) From transx@fmlynet.org Sun Oct 24 00:18:13 1999 Return-Path: Received: from elmls01.ce.mediaone.net (elmls01.ce.mediaone.net [24.131.128.25]) by aramis.rutgers.edu (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id AAA01728 for ; Sun, 24 Oct 1999 00:15:32 -0400 (EDT) Received: from fmlynet.org (ro01-24-29-210-6.ce.mediaone.net [24.29.210.6]) by elmls01.ce.mediaone.net (8.8.7/8.8.7) with SMTP id XAA13547 for ; Sat, 23 Oct 1999 23:17:16 -0500 (CDT) Received: by fmlynet.planetc.com (WtrGate+ v0.93.p7 sn 153) via FTN; Sat, 23 Oct 99 22:09:17 GMT+0600 for christian@cs.rutgers.edu Date: Sat, 23 Oct 1999 01:25:31 GMT+0600 From: Steve.Hayes@f2.n7903.fmlynet.planetc.com (Steve Hayes) Message-ID: To: christian@cs.rutgers.edu Subject: Halloween - what is it really? Organization: http://www.fmlynet.org This is the time of year when I read all kinds of things about Halloween. It's come up on a couple of Orthodox mailing list, various BBS conferences, and the "coinherence" mailing list for discussing the works of Charles Williams (where the discussion is now focused on his book "All Hallows Eve"). Some Christians think Halloween is wicked because it's "pagan". Some pagans get resentful of Christians for "stealing" their fes- tival. People seem to get all worked up about it. Most of this I observe as an outsider. As far as I can tell, Hal- loween is an American cultural festival, which is interpreted in various ways by different people. I've had no firsthand experi- ence of it from that point of view. I used to be an Anglican a long time ago, and back in those days Halloween was observed with a "first evensong" for All Saints Day, which was kept with an Octave, but when Vatican II dropped the Octave, the Anglicans followed suit (when Rome turns, we all turn) and observance of it seemed to die out among most Anglicans, and it passed unnoticed. Now I'm an Orthodox Christian, and our Halloween is the Saturday after Pentecost, so the 31st October isn't of much interest, as it's a purely Western phenomenon. But since there are so many comments and arguments and discus- sions and observations, here's my 2c worth, as a very detached outsider. Here in South Africa, as I said, Halloween isn't a big deal at all. The newspapers made a far bigger fuss about Diwali (Deepavali), the Hindu festival of lights, symbolising the tri- umph of good over evil. There are pictures of children holding lighted lamps and things like that. South Africa has more Hindus than Irish, perhaps, so it's certainly a more prominent festival here than Halloween. Halloween doesn't go entirely unnoticed, however - there were a few advertisements for Halloween parties in the newspapers, but they would be purely adult affairs. There are no customs of children going around soliciting gifts or any- thing like that, as there seem to be in America. If any kids did that here they'd be greeted with blank incomprehension, and told not to be cheeky, or they'd be street kids who do that all the year round. I believe the American celebrations of Halloween developed from Irish immigrants, and that before it was exported, it was a more- or-less uniquely Irish thing. I've been reading a very interesting book about it, though - "The Stations of the Sun" by Ronald Hutton (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1996). Hutton is a British historian, and his book is a very well-researched study of seasonal festivals in Britain. Some of his observations may be of interest to Americans who tend to get their knickers in a knot over Halloween - either pagans who think Christians "stole" it, or Christians who think it must be "demonic". "At the end of the nineteenth century , two distinguished academ- ics, one at Oxford and the other at Cambridge, made enduring con- tributions to the popular conception of Samhain. The former was the philologist Sir John Rhys, who suggested that it had been the 'Celtic' New Year.... Rhys's theory was further popularized by the Cambridge scholar, Sir James Frazer. At times the latter did admit that the evidence for it was inconclusive, but at others he threw this caution overboard and employed it to support an idea of his own: that Samhain had been the pagan Celtic feast of the dead. He reached this belief by the simple process of arguing back from a fact, that 1 and 2 November had been dedicated to that purpose by the medieval Christian Church, from which it could be surmised that this was been a Christianization of a pre- existing festival. He admitted, by implication, that there was in fact no actual record of such a festival, but inferred the former existence of one from a number of different propositions: that the Church had taken over other pagan holy days, that 'many' cul- tures have annual ceremonies to honour their dead, 'commonly' at the opening of the year, and that (of course) 1 November had been the Celtic New Year. He pointed out that although the feast of All Saints or All Hallows had been formally instituted across most of north-west Europe by the emperor Louis the Pius in 835, on the prompting of Pope Gregory IV, it had already existed, on its later date of 1 November, in England at the time of Bede. He suggested that the pope and emperor had, therefore, merely ratified an existing religious practice based upon that of the ancient Celts. "The story is, in fact, more complicated. By the mid-fourth century Christians in the Mediterranean world were keeping a feast in honour of all those who had been martyred under the pagan emperors; it is mentioned in the _Carmina Nisibena_ of St Ephraem, who died in about 373, as being held on 13 May. During the fifth century divergent practices sprang up, the Syrian chur- ches holding the festival in Easter Week, and those of the Greek world preferring the Sunday after Pentecost. That of Rome, how- ever, preferred to keep the May date, and Pope Boniface IV formally endorsed it in the year 609. By 800 churches in England and Germany, which were in touch with each other, were celebrat- ing a festival dedicated to all saints upon 1 November instead. The oldest text of Bede's Martyrology, from the eighth century, does not include it, but the recensions at the end of the century do. Charlemagne's favourite churchman Alcuin was keeping it by then, as were also his friend Arno, bishop of Salzburg, and a church in Bavaria. Pope Gregory, therefore, was endorsing and adopting a practice which had begun in northern Europe. It had not, however, started in Ireland, where the _Felire_ of Oengus and the _Martyrology of Tallaght_ prove that the early medieval churches celebrated the feast of All Saints upon 20 April. This makes nonsense of Frazer's notion that the November date was chosen because of 'Celtic' influence: rather, both 'Celtic' Europe and Rome followed a Germanic idea...." For what it's worth, the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church notes that Pope Gregory III of Rome (d. 741) dedicated a chapel in the basilica of St Peter to "All the saints", and Gregory IV ordered its universal observance. Sixtus IV (d. 1484) added an Octave, which was suppressed in 1955. The idea that Christians "stole" it, therefore, seems pretty far- fetched. What about the accusation by some that it is "satanic", "demonic", or "evil"? Well, I've never seen it in action, but from reading descriptions of it, and seeing films about it, the idea of kids going around saying "give us sweets or we'll do something nasty to you" sounds a bit like a juvenile protection racket to me, and that is poten- tially, if not actually, evil. It's only one step from that to going round to shop keepers with a gun and saying "give us X, and we'll protect you from Y". Keep well, Steve Hayes Permanent e-mail addresses - please note them: E-mail: methodius@bigfoot.com shayes@dunelm.org.uk WWW: http://www.bigfoot.com/~methodius To keep our contact information up-to-date always, go to: http://www.planetall.com/main.asp?cid=1522526 .. Theology: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/philtheo.htm Path: christian Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian From: "reese mack" Subject: Re: More info on the origins of halloween Organization: SOLUNA.ORG: http://soluna.org/reesemack.html References: <9pe2se$njs$1@geneva.rutgers.edu> Reply-To: "reese mack" Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu Mglenn writes (with some snippage): | My husband would like to give a sermon on why halloween is | not something we should celebrate as Christians. We have some | facts but would like more. If anyone could be of help with | some concrete answers, or great websites, I would appreciate it. Well, it's good that you've made up your mind that "Halloween is not something we should celebrate as Christians" before having any "concrete answers" in your hand. Ahem. Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). Please note that, contrary to Jack Chick's exemplary academic research , there is no Celtic deity "Samhain" (or Sam Hain, or whatnot). Major dictionaries of Celtic Languages don't mention any "Samhain" deity: McBain's Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language says that "samhuinn" (the Scots Gaelic spelling) means "Hallow-tide" (or 'sacred time'), and that it probably came from roots meaning "summer's end." The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter. To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter. By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain. The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of "bobbing" for apples that is practiced today on Halloween. By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints' Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely believed today that the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. Even later, in A.D. 1000, the church would make November 2 All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead. It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints', All Saints', and All Souls', were called Hallowmas. The custom of trick-or-treating is thought to have originated not with the Irish Celts, but with a ninth-century European custom called souling. On November 2, All Souls Day, early Christians would walk from village to village begging for "soul cakes," made out of square pieces of bread with currants. The more soul cakes the beggars would receive, the more prayers they would promise to say on behalf of the dead relatives of the donors. At the time, it was believed that the dead remained in limbo for a time after death, and that prayer, even by strangers, could expedite a soul's passage to heaven. The Jack-o-lantern custom probably comes from Irish folklore. As the tale is told, a man named Jack, who was notorious as a drunkard and trickster, tricked Satan into climbing a tree. Jack then carved an image of a cross in the tree's trunk, trapping the devil up the tree. Jack made a deal with the devil that, if he would never tempt him again, he would promise to let him down the tree. According to the folk tale, after Jack died, he was denied entrance to Heaven because of his evil ways, but he was also denied access to Hell because he had tricked the devil. Instead, the devil gave him a single ember to light his way through the frigid darkness. The ember was placed inside a hollowed-out turnip to keep it glowing longer. The Irish used turnips as their "Jack's lanterns" originally. But when the immigrants came to America, they found that pumpkins were far more plentiful than turnips. So the Jack-O-Lantern in America was a hollowed-out pumpkin, lit with an ember. So, although some cults and Satanists may have adopted Halloween as their favorite "holiday," the day itself did not grow out of evil practices. It grew out of the rituals of Celts celebrating a new year, and out of Medieval prayer rituals of Europeans. And today, even many churches have Halloween parties or pumpkin carving events for the kids. After all, the day itself is only as evil as one cares to make it. You should read the book "Halloween and Other Festivals of Death and Life," edited by Jack Santino (who is a member and one-time editor of the American Folklore Society and Chair of the Department of Popular Culture at Bowling Green (Ohio) University) for more fascinating insights into the history and customs of Halloween. An article by Dr. Santino has been logged into the Library of Congress and can be found here: http://www.loc.gov/folklife/halloween.html Various books by Dr. Santino regarding the origins and symbolism of holidays can be found here:: http://www.uky.edu/UniversityPress/books/halloeve.html http://www.press.uillinois.edu/f95/santino.html For some additional online resources, try: CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS AND RESEARCH MINISTRY: http://www.carm.org/questions/halloween.htm Isaac Bonewits, Celtic/Druid researcher and scholar: http://www.neopagan.net/Halloween-Origins-text.html http://www.neopagan.net/Halloween-Lies.html All Family Resources: http://www.familymanagement.com/holidays/halloween/origins.html Finally, an article from Dr. Cliff Vaughn of the Baptist Center for Ethics, who holds a Ph.D. in American Culture Studies from Bowling Green State University, where he studied with Jack Santino. http://www.baptists4ethics.com/ebyte/10_10_00.htm Hope this helps in your research; it should, at least provide the other side to what appears to be your single-sided coin. reese mack