Halloween by Ben Weiss Founder of the National Educators Fellowship
It seems rather strange how excellent and
well meaning ideas and practices
can degenerate into injurious and unwholesome ways of action. The
cause may be by misconstruing the original purpose or carelessly
permitting it to depreciate or become corrupted. This happened
to the public observance of All Hallows Eve and also to Thanksgiving
Day, to some extent.
All Hallows Eve, or Halloween in the fourth century, was in the
first century a day of remembrance of those who suffered martyrdom
for their belief in and faithfulness to Jesus Christ. So large
a number died as martyrs that a day was appointed to honor all
of them, All Saints Day.
In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III dedicated a chapel in
remembrance of their belief in Jesus Christ. The date was changed
from May 1, the early date of All Saints' Day to November 1.
All Saints' Day become one of the holy days of the Christian
Church. The evening before was called Holy Evening and also Hallowed
Evening, and was changed to Halloween.
Later it became associated with a legend that on Halloween evil
spirits, demons, ghosts and witches were abroad on this evening,
and it became a secular festival with little or no association
to its original meaning or purpose. In time, it developed into
an evening of mischief and vandalism, injury or destruction OF
personal and public property. Often it was used to destroy or injure
the property of a person in the community as an act of vengeance
or reprisal. Vandals also injured and defaced many public buildings
in acts of plaIn mischief.
Due to the increasing incidence of personal injury and damage
to property, a concentrated effort has been made in recent years
to give the occasion a more constructive and socially beneficial
observance.
Children and youth parties, social events
and public celebrations in parks and schools have changed the
occasion into a more peaceful
and constructive festival. One common practice is for children
accompanied by parents or adults to go from door to door asking
for a "trick or treat" hand-out gift. There has been
no populareffort to renew the original purpose of Halloween when
Christians remembered those who gave their lives for their belief
in God and Christ.