[continued from previous message]

the phenomenon of ignited marsh gas, thought to be apparitions, and in
eastern England these will-o’-the-wisps were referred to as “Jack o’lanterns”. This has given us the Irish-by-way-of-the-United-States
modern version their name, though now made out of pumpkins. Again, the
origin of the practice is obscure and there is no way of knowing if it
was a pre- or post-Christian tradition.

Other traditional Halloween games and practices involved various forms
of divination, to predict the future regarding death, marriage and
children. Not surprisingly, Halloween games often involved apples
(e.g. bobbing for apples) or nuts, given these were collected around
this time of year. But the most common modern Halloween traditions are
a few Irish and Scottish practices that were transplanted to the
United States, and then really only became popularised after the
Second World War. The influence of American popular culture and the
commercial opportunities the modern American-style festival provides
to manufacturers of confectionary, toys and costumes means that, these
days, the commercialised version of the holiday is now almost
international.

So, is it “Pagan”?

The short answer is “no”. Contrary to Seth Andrews’ claims about “the Catholic Church” stealing a pagan festival “involving the druid
priests and the people dressing up in masks and tricks and treats”,
the date and most of the traditions are firmly Christian in origin.
The November 1 date that is the centre of “Allhallowmas” was not
derived from any “Celtic” original and the original Irish date for an
All Saints feast moved from April 20 to November 1 due to the
influence of Continental and English liturgical practice. That this
meant the new All Saints Day fell on the “quarter day” of Samhain was
pure coincidence. Contrary to repeated insistence in popular sources,
scholars can find no clear indication of any ritual or religious
practices on Samhain, and certainly none that can be traced to later
Halloween traditions. Masks, costumes, trick or treating, Halloween
games etc. all either have known traditional Christian origins or
simply cannot be linked to anything definitely pre-Christian. Possibly
the main thing that does connect Halloween to earlier beliefs about
Samhain is the idea that it is a numinous time of year when this world
and the otherworld become closer and, thus, it is a time to be wary of malevolent entities. But how much of that idea comes from
pre-Christian beliefs and how much of it is a result of a Christian
feast focused on the afterlife and the dead is, again, impossible to
tell. It is most likely some combination of the two.

What is very clear is that anti-theistic activists like Seth Andrews
simply do not care about the details, let alone the truth behind the
popular claims about Halloween being “pagan” in origin and simply “stolen” by Christianity. Despite exhorting others to “question everything” and check their facts, supposed rationalists like Andrews
do not bother to practice what they preach if an idea fits neatly
enough with their strong confirmation biases. And that is genuinely
scary. Happy Halloween.

Source:
https://historyforatheists.com/2021/10/is-halloween-pagan/

--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

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