Samhain

Before I became Christian I was a Celtic Pagan. Because of my previous religious background I find myself looking at Halloween in a very different light this year. Traditions of Halloween all stem from Celtic practices and most people don't even know what they are doing. People put Halloween in that "it's so fun to get to pretend to be something else" category that they don't stop to think about why they are doing the things they are.
Why the carved Pumpkins? No one cares. To modern day people it's a sign that you're giving out free candy on October 31st but to the Celtic religion having a gourd carved with a face was a signal on the Samhain Celtic New Year to the spirits of your ancestors that it was safe to come home. The gourd would be left out over night and it was believed that it loured lost spirits back to the house they were "supposed to be haunting".
Why the costumes? It's not just a way for you to get dressed up and turn on your boyfriend or to teach little kids how cute they can be when they use their imaginations. The modern person thinks when they put on their fake fangs and false hair that they are playing into the cultural "be anything you want to be mentality" but to the Celtic Religion people who were traveling on Samhain would dress in ghoulish or ghostly costumes when they had to travel because on the night when ghosts could freely come home they could also roam the streets and possess anyone they wanted to. It was believe that by dressing up as "one of them" you could escape a demonic encounter.
Why the candy? Dentists the world around love this time of year but they aren't the only ones. Modern day children and adults love the sinful endulgence of just one more peice but to the Celtic Religion the candy had an entirely different purpose. Spirits of all kinds could entire a house on Samhain. It was believed that the evil spirits hungered for the once a year chance to take the good parts of our souls. Sweet foods were left on the porch to distract evil spirits. People believed feeding the spirit would fill it up before midnight when whatever it was doing became perminant.
So many of the Celtic traditions we have we don't know about. Why is it we sweep in the same direction? Why is it we drink tea when we are sick? It's what thousand of years of Celtic tradition taught us. It came to America with the Irish settlers and it's been here ever since. Candy companies, custome makers and thousands of children would be disappointed if it didn't.
But know what you are doing.Know what a corn maze is for, know what a broom is about, know why you're dressing up and what you're asking for when you say "trick or treat" and if you still want to do it... stop by my house because I'll be giving out candy...and a history lesson every time the door bell rings.

Scary Isn't It

I think it's only fitting that I have no idea what I should be doing. This is my first Halloween as a Christian and my previous religion of choice (Celtic Pagan) had a lot of traditions steaming from this time of year.

What I find scary isn't the lack of participation or the overwhelming love of costumes and candy that I am finding in my current religion but instead the fact that it all depends on who you ask. Is it ok for kids to tricker treat? Is it ok to see a palm reader?

Where is that line in the sand? How do we determine where the difference is between the occult and having some fun? I surely don't know. My husband seems to think it depends on "how much stock you put in it" or "where your intentions lie" but that seems a little gray and vague to me.

Somewhere there is a right side, a wrong side and that thin line in the middle and I want to find it. I think this stems from the fact that I know where most of these halloween traditions came from and I'd have to say that it was a long way from playing dress up and getting free candy.

What exactly are we teaching the children around us? What would we do if it was our kid? I don't know. If knowledge is power then that is scary.