The Church and Halloween

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Should Christians celebrate Halloween? The first question is, what is Halloween? Halloween comes from “All Hallow’s Eve,” which was the day before “All Hallow’s Day,” when ancient European Christians would remember the dead. The name “All Hallow’s Eve” changed over time and became “Hallowe’en.” In the early 7th century, Pope Boniface IV consecrated the Pantheon in Rome, a temple dedicated to all the gods of ancient Rome. Instead, they would celebrate all the saints, and the chosen date was May 13th. Later, Pope Gregory III changed the date to November 1st. This change was likely intended to counteract former pagan celebrations that were occurring at the time. Alternative theories suggest that it is based on Samhain, an ancient pagan holiday that the church sought to absorb to facilitate the more straightforward conversion of people. There are various theories about the origin of Halloween, but what is known for sure is that the Roman Church celebrates All Saints’ Day to honor the dead. They later designated November 2nd as All Souls’ Day to honor all the dead. The concept of celebrating or honoring the dead, primarily, is not based on the Bible, so it seems more like an attempt to maintain certain cultural traditions in post-Christian Europe.

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