Pagan Origins of Halloween | 28:19 ep 160

Culture Talk: Pagan Origins of Halloween
with philosopher/theologian Ken Samples

RTB 101: Ethics in the Age of AI
with author of The Age of AI Jason Thacker

Give and Take: Kreb Cycle Design
with biochemist Fuz Rana

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:57 Culture Talk
08:43 RTB 101
17:33 Give and Take
27:37 Outro

Help us create even more empowering resources!

Follow RTB_Official for updates!

[wandarichard]

All these short teachings are excellent.

[CMVille]

Ooo, check out John Ramirez videos on this "holiday" God bless!

[wtk]

In the same way commercialism has sadly sucked the meaning out of many Christmas celebrations, so too has it done the same for the darker meanings behind Halloween.

[pierreabbat]

God has given us enough holidays that we don't need to make up new ones or copy pagan ones.
What do you think of dressing as characters for Purim?

[c.aamold]

Well...depends on how you feel about Constantine and his actual beliefs. God makes it pretty clear no cheatin', yet vatican is all about egypt idols in their holy house. And there is a god they did this harvest festival to you didnt mention.

[orneryokinawan]

Wasn't it called All Saint's Day before paganism butchered it?

[kavikv.d.hexenholtz]

Modern Halloween as we know it today is just that – a modernly invented ‘holiday’ combining elements of an earlier American tradition called “Hell Night”, along with a healthy dose of good old “Hollywood” thrown in for good measure. Virtually _all_ American customs associated with Halloween originated right around the 1920’s - 1930’s or so. While there are some vestigial elements from pre-Christian religions in some of the customs (the "apple" traditions - bobbing for apples for example, but that's from the Romans, not the Celts), the modern costumes, the blood, the gore, the reveling in death and destruction, the candy, even ‘trick or treat’ itself, dates no earlier than 1900’s America. In short, it’s a relatively new phenomenon and represents a mix of cultures, capitalism, and accommodation.

Many people seem to associate modern Halloween with three things: The old Celtic New Year’s celebration of Samhain (in asserting that most of Halloween’s customs can be traced to Samhain celebrations); Satanism (asserting that Halloween’s origins are Satanic as evidenced by the many Satanists who use this day to promote their beliefs); and All Saints Day (asserting that the early church established the holiday to “Christianize” Samhain). Upon a more critical examination however, these associations fall more into the categories of wishful thinking and urban legend than actual historical fact.

It's simply not a holiday that has close ties to the ancient past, nor does it have some ‘pagan’ antecedent, nor is a continuation of several ancient customs, as some would have one believe.

Perhaps the most difficult aspect of researching the various origins, traditions, and, ‘assumed truths’ about Halloween, is sifting through all the data and separating historical _fact_ from historical ‘myth’, ‘(urban) legend’, and fiction. What we find, is that the origin of most Halloween traditions/beliefs comes from latter (historical fiction), rather than the former (historical fact).

All three holidays, Halloween, All Saint’s Day, and Samhain share a common date and perhaps a “feeling”, but that’s really about it. Indeed, so much of Halloween “feels” Pagan that attempts to connect those things to ancient Samhain simply “feels right”.

Contrary to what some would have one believe, the Bible does not say _anything_ about Halloween – passages are typically cherry-picked, often completely out of context, and applied to a preconceived notion about Halloween based more on myths, legends, outright nonsense, and misconceived assumptions, than actual historical fact.

When one participates in Halloween, one is not participating in ‘evil’ or ‘death’ per se; rather one of the points of the modern holiday is to mock these things. I think that’s a major point many people seem to completely miss or not quite understand. In a way, it’s remotely akin to the Medieval “Feast of Fools”. From a Christian viewpoint, it can be said that death is mocked, because Christ conquered death.

On another philosophical/psychological level, it allows people to explore their “darker side/psyche”, if you will. A time to explore a side of themselves they would not normally expose or perhaps even consider. It’s a part of being human. A time to play on a few of the basic/core fears of man – fear of the dark, and fear of death – the aspects of these fears that people just don’t like to think about are now exposed for all to ‘see’ and ‘experience’. A sort of annual self-check to make sure that part of our humanity is still there, so to speak. In the end, most people realize it for what it is.

Samhain/Halloween is to some people a very spiritual and magickal time of the year; for some it’s a time of fun and candy, perhaps a way to celebrate Fall in general. Still for others, perhaps a time to contemplate their own mortality since the modern holiday mocks death. Some perhaps are not quite sure what to make of it and prefer to steer clear of it, but however you wish to celebrate it….or not – Halloween is only ‘evil’ if one chooses to make it so.

[loudmouthnewyorker]

C'mon RTB, you can do better than this. All the comments below are telling you this segment is off base. I support Hugh in everything he does but Ken isn't doing a great job. Hugh doesn't deviate from the simple truth of the Gospel and the Word of God. Halloween is truly evil and when I was knee deep in the world, i can personally tell you that Halloween had an intoxicating effect on my unsaved soul. Redeemed Christian know to stay away from the poison this "holiday" is truly offering. Never take it lightly. The enemy is prowling around like a roaring lion ready to devour us. That roaring lion is his disguise....