Christians for Paganism

When I took my children to a “Pumpkin Patch” to pick out a pumpkin or two for Halloween, we went to a farm with pumpkins in the field. They had hay rides and cider for sale. They had a blue grass band.

Great fun, and American capitalism at its best.

But these days, the “Pumpkin Patches” that I see around here, here in the Bible Belt, are all run by churches.

It is a fundraising event for them.

Now, from what I remember, Halloween is a pagan holiday tradition that goes back to the Dark Ages in pre-Christian Scotland where it was originally called Samhain. Druids thought that during this period the boundary that separated the living and the dead somehow thinned, and it was possible to pass back and forth between life and afterlife.

And from what I recall on the origin of the Christian holiday, All Saints Day, it was essentially established to hijack Halloween from the pagans. Witness the fact that it is called Halloween now, All Hallows Eve.

And now Christian churches are hosting Halloween in conducting fundraisers, ironic in that you don’t hear of churches selling Christmas trees or Easter supplies.

I guess having Christian Pumpkin Patches is yet another attempt to hijack a pagan holiday, as if it hasn’t been hijacked already. Or maybe it is another attempt to capitalize on capitalism.

What I’ll “Be” This Halloween

What are you going to "be" on Halloween?

That was what we used to ask each other back in the day. Back when I went out Trick-or-Treating with my friends.

And so I asked a friend yesterday what her young son was going to “be” this Halloween and she replied “he wants to be a scary man.”

A scary man.

That leaves it pretty much open, then, how exactly you pull off the “scary man” look. But I thought about it some and concluded that that very probably entailed every costume I ever devised during my tenure as a Trick-or-Treater.

Except for the time I was a space man, that is.

So this year, I think I’ll follow my friend’s son’s lead and go out as the scariest man I can think of, and hopefully I’ll frighten the bejesus out of everyone who sees me and swear that they will never want to look or act like me in their lifetimes.

I’ll go as a Teabagger.

Halloween Truth

It’s Halloween again. Cities, towns and villages across the country are braced for the onslaught of sweets-seeking spooks aged from 1 to 31.

Jack o’Lanterns are carved.

Spooky sounds fill the air.

Little brats are everywhere.

Truth to tell, Halloween is one of the last pagan holidays hijacked by the Catholic Church.

The first to go was Eostre (Easter).

Then went The Feast of Sol Invictus (Christmas).

Soon following was the Celtic celebration of Samuin, was Celtic New Year, in commemoration of the darker half of the year. On this day, Celts believed that the separation between the world of the living and the dead was especially thin. Thin enough, they thought, to have some cross visitations. Costumes were used to disguise oneself from harmful spirits.

The festival continued after the Christianization of Western Europe, much to the chagrin of the Catholic Church.

So they hijacked it.

The Church had special days set aside to honor individual saints. November 1st was vacant so it was designated as a day to honor all of the saints.

Or All Saints Day.

Or All Hallows Day.

The day before All Hallows Day, then became All Hallows Eve. And you can probably guess how the name became mangled to the present-day Halloween.

Halloween is celebrated throughout the Bible Belt, ironically, despite what Pat Robertson has tried to do to deter good Christians from participating this year.

I think he does miss the point though. After all, this is something that an entrepreneur like Pat Robertson should be well aware of. Halloween is a huge cash cow. Everyone but everyone cashes in.

Especially the Episcopalians.