The crisp autumn air rustles the leaves on the ground, just before a group of excited children trample them, running to the next house to ring the doorbell. Their parents stopped trying to keep up about a block and a half into the journey they were on. The children smile widely, one in a witch's hat, another wrapped in gauze like a mummified pharaoh. "Trick or treat!" they scream simultaneously, even if they don't understand their own words. The mysterious air surrounding this Halloween night has a complicated history. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Very often, Samhain, the Celtic holiday celebrated on the thirty-first of October to mark the transition from summer to winter, is considered the basis of Halloween. Ray Bradbury's Halloween Tree tells the story of several kids who learn the origins of Halloween by exploring its roots. The novel introduces the character of "Samhain", for whom the Celtic druids sacrifice animals: "We pray for the souls of those who have become to the Beasts. O God of the Dead, we sacrifice These Beasts So that you set free The souls of our dear Who died this year!'[1] The illustrative vision presented by Bradbury's characters gives way to the beliefs of the ancient people of the Druids, or the upper-class Celts of Gaul, Ireland, and other tribes of Western Europe in medieval times. The true activities of Samhain, however, remain unclear to modern historians. Nicholas Rogers' book, Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night, explores the Celtic origins of the holiday from a scholar's perspective. In his non-fictional text, Rogers gathers information from over a hundred sources to present his readers with answers and analysis to questions surrounding the celebration of Halloween.[2] Different perspectives on the sacrificial rituals of the Druids are offered in his book at the time of Samhain. Julius Caesar and the ancient historian Tacitus, for example, both believed that the Druids were guilty of committing human sacrifice. Tacitus wrote of the Druids as "savage cults" who pleased the gods with the entrails of other humans.[3] Similarly, Caesar, in The Gallic War, passed on the beliefs of the Druids as compensation for one human life for another.[4] Rogers points out, however, that these perspectives could be interpreted by a Roman bias in hopes of "deniguring the Celtic character and way of life". I veil during the holidays. The darkness surrounding Halloween is present in many offshoots of Halloween popular culture. While the possibility exists that Samhain was related to ritual human sacrifice, the relationship between All Hallows' Eve, or Halloween, and the supernatural comes from several areas of influence. Samhain was held for the Celts at the beginning of a new year. It was a liminal festival that represented the threshold between the death of the past year and the birth of the new one.[6] According to Rogers, Samhain in Celtic tradition was "a time of divine mating and dark omens, a time when evil birds emerged from the caves of Crogham to prey on mankind".[7] Jenny Butler's chapter in Trick or Treat? Halloween in a Globalizing World, a collection of Halloween-inspired anecdotes, delves into the religious practices of the neo-paganistic Samhain. Neo-paganism is the broad term for modern “earth-based” religious practices including, but not limited to, Wicca or witchcraft.[8] Through the celebration of Samhain, Pagans can connect with other worldly beings and see it as a time of vulnerability to the supernatural, an idea very prevalent inmany modern myths and customs of All Hallows' Eve. Contemporary practices of Halloween are less derivative of those of Samhain than those of All Saints' Day and All Saints' Day. These medieval Christian holidays were celebrated in European countries to recognize the powers of spirits and break barriers that stood between the dead and the living. Festivals were held and bells were rung in recognition of these lost souls.[10] In addition to being a time of recognition for the dead, All Saints' Day became associated with masquerading and role reversals through the mischief of young people, who assumed positions of leadership to play pranks on their elders.[11] As this custom eventually became the role-playing game often seen on Halloween night, the tradition of trick-or-treating similarly finds its origins in this period. “In the 1950s, on the evening of October 31, I went around the houses in the neighborhood with a turnip and a lantern with a crude 'witch' face' carved on it,” recalls Doug Sandle, a psychologist at Leeds Metropolitan University in his chapter of Trick or Treating?[12] This custom, much like modern trick-or-treating, began with the act of "souling", which according to Rogers was the task of preparing soul cakes to give to those who prayed for souls . in purgatory. Souling became an important custom in England after the death of Queen Elizabeth I. With turnip lanterns lit by candles, beggars were greeted at the doors of houses, asking for soule sweets in exchange for prayers.[13] By the 1930s, trick-or-treating, as a transformation from its earlier form in modern Europe, became firmly established in North America as a solution to vandalism and partying on Halloween night.[14] The children went from house to house, giving neighbors the ultimatum of vandalism or compensation with sweets. When it comes to the controversy surrounding Halloween, evangelical Christians tend to have the strongest arguments against the holiday season. Satanic and pagan practices are at the heart of these concerns. In medieval Europe, witchcraft was seen as a satanic religion, as demonstrated by later events in the Salem witch trials.[15] From Scripture the evangelists also find support for their opinions: Let there not be found among you anyone who causes a son or daughter to pass through the fire, or who practices divination, or who is a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer, or who casts spells, or one who consults ghosts or spirits, or one who seeks oracles from the dead. (Deuteronomy 19:10-11) Through this quote from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, it is very clear that Christians are not to be associated with any type of witchcraft or dark magic. Therefore, due to its pagan roots, Halloween is a holiday in direct relation to these practices, a fundamental argument used to discourage the celebration of Halloween. An article in Challenge Newsline, a news source focused on evangelism, urges readers to avoid the Halloween festivities and instead "seek the Lord Jesus Christ".[16] In this same article, the reader is reminded of the words of the Bible taken from Deuteronomy and how imitation of witchcraft is itself a sin.[17] Many groups that abstain from Halloween use other alternative activities to celebrate more Christian values ​​instead. For example, Brad Winsted, in his article on the Christian Broadcasting Network, suggests that practicing Christians celebrate Reformation Day instead of observing Halloween, in which they will hail the achievements of Martin Luther and other historical reformers.[18] There are, however, as Nicholas Rogers describes, some less passive methods for the evangelist's non-participation in Halloween. One of these methods is theHell House. Hell Houses are Christianized haunted houses that aim to show the horrors of committing sins such as homosexuality, abortion, and suicide.[19] As Ann Pellegrini, author and professor of religious studies at New York University, states in her essay titled “Signaling Through the Flames,” hell houses “aim to scare you with Jesus” and, presumably, away from the Satanism they see as being intrinsic to Halloween.[20] No matter their approach, these conservative Christians have the same intent: to keep Christians on the straight and narrow and encourage others to do the same. Whatever way evangelical Christians view the holiday, this does not negate Halloween's widespread success in both commercialization and entertainment. According to Pellegrini, in 2006, Americans were expected to spend $4.96 billion on Halloween, including costumes, candy and decorations, and the figure has only increased since then.[21] Since the majority of the US population is Christian, it seems unlikely that the holiday would have such a large turnout. However, a large part of the Christian population is not against Halloween. In her anecdotal chapter of Trick or Treat?, Fran Ota, minister of Glen Ayr United Church in Canada, provides a compelling argument as to why: “All of our religious celebrations incorporate elements of what we call 'pagan' faiths. If we want to eliminate Halloween because it is not Christian, then we must eliminate Christmas and Easter too”.[22] While many pagan religions view Halloween as a religious holiday to purify and remember lost loved ones,[23] The modernized holiday draws heavily on its roots from the aforementioned medieval Christian day of All Saints. Of course, for some, All Saints' Day is a Christianized Samhain.[24] This Christianization, however, according to Ota, was an attempt, in the early stages of the spread of Christianity, to welcome people accustomed to other religions.[25] In this way, the leaders of the nascent church could allow the new laypeople to maintain their rituals, but in light of Christian beliefs. One of these holidays is Christmas, or, originally, Saturnalia, which was the harvest festival for the Roman god Saturn.[26] The adaptation of these religions has continued over the years to become the modern versions seen today. Although Halloween's pagan origins can be interpreted into Christian derivations, they do not deny the association between Halloween and evil spirits and witchcraft. Anderson M. Rearick III, assistant professor of English at Mount Vernon Nazarene College, writes his article “Hallowing Halloween” to discuss why the connection between Halloween and sin, and by connotation, the devil, should not be a deterrent from the holiday, but instead an attractor. He states, “The one thing Satan cannot stand is being a source of laughter. His pride is undermined by the knowledge that his hellish rebellion against God is actually an absurd farce. the holiday itself. Since its origins, Halloween has no correlation with the existence of Satan, because the ancient Celts did not have a satanic figure who opposed a power of good (God in the case of Christianity). “Although some pre-Christian religions depicted a dualistic struggle between the God of Light and the God of Darkness, Satanism is essentially a Christian creation, a parody of Christian forms centered on the fallen rebel angel, Lucifer.”[28] The Roots of Halloween have been misunderstood over time with a connection to Satan through witchcraft and other demonic ideals, when no true connection exists. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get an essay.