by Ken Johnstone

Created on: January 15, 2008

The 31st October is celebrated the world over as Halloween, or to give it its proper title "All Hallow's Eve", which over the centuries was abbreviated to Hallow's Eve. (Or een)
Most people in modern times simply see Halloween as a fun time for the kids, when they get the opportunity to dress up as witches and warlocks and goblins and ghouls, to have a Halloween party with their friends, and to go round the local neighborhood "tricking and treating", or putting on little shows in order to gather some extra pocket money. (In my own young days back in Scotland it was called "guising".) But Halloween is far more than that. In reality it's a very ancient pagan festival which right up to the present day is celebrated the world over by Satanists and the powers of evil in our world, and which should be shunned by all Christians and right thinking people.

Halloween is a pagan festival that some say goes back to about 300 years before Christ and which is believed to have originated with the old Celts of Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland. Its original name in the old Celtic/Druid tradition was "Samhain", and it was in honor of the old "lord of death" (guess who *HE* was), who the Celts believed gathered together all the condemned souls at Halloween to give them the opportunity to possess the bodies of living people. The ancients believed that these tortured souls could be appeased by the leaving out of food and by providing shelter for them for the evening. If the "evil spirits" were happy with your efforts then you were left in peace for another year. If not, then you were in danger of becoming possessed, or having all sorts of evil curses and spells cast on you and your family.

Back in the 8th century the then Pope, attempting to dispel the old pagan rituals and integrate them into Christian tradition, took over the old Roman Pantheon in Rome from the pagans and turned it into a new Cathedral called the Church of the Blessed Virgin and All Martyrs. He instigated a new Christian holy day called "All Saint's Day", that was intended to honor all the martyrs of the early Church who were persecuted by the Romans. This was initially celebrated on the eve of the 13th May, but in 835 this was later changed to the 1st November, and the feast became more commonly known as "All Hallows Day", the day when all the "hallowed" saints were honored. From this came All Hallows Eve, or Halloween.

But the new Christian version of the old pagan ceremony never really caught on, and many

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