The
Joyous Feast of Pumpkin
by
Bishop [now Archbishop] Kyrill
It
is that time of the year when the secular society in which we live is
preparing for the festival of Halloween. Many do not know its
spiritual roots and history, and why it contradicts the teachings of
the Church. The feast of Halloween began in pre-Christian times among
the Celtic peoples of Great Britain, Ireland and northern France.
These pagan peoples believed that life was born from death. Therefore
they celebrated the beginning of the "new year" in the fall
(on the eye of October 31 and into the day of November 1) when, as
they believed, the season of cold, darkness, decay and death began. A
certain deity whom they called Samhain was believed by the Celts to
be the Prince of Death and it was he whom they honored at their New
Year's festival*.
From
an Orthodox Christian point of view, we can see many diabolical
beliefs and practices associated with this feast which have endured
to this time. On the eve of the New Year's festival, the Druids, who
were the priests of the Celtic cult, instructed their people to
extinguish all hearth fires and lights. On the evening of the
festival, a huge bonfire built from oak branches (oak was regarded by
the Celts as sacred) was ignited. Upon this fire sacrifices were
burned as an offering in order to appease and cajole Samhain, the
Prince of Death. It was also believed that Samhain, being pleased by
the offerings, allowed the souls of the dead to return to their homes
for a festal visit on this day. It is from this belief that the
practice of wandering about in the dark dressed up in costumes
imitating ghosts, witches, hobgoblins, fairies, etc. grew up. For the
living entered into fellowship and communion with the dead by what
was, and still is, a ritual act of imitation, through costume and the
activity of wandering around in the dark of night, even as the souls
of the dead were believed to wander.
The
dialogue of trick or treat is also an integral part of this system of
beliefs and practices. It was believed that the souls of the dead who
had entered into the world of darkness, decay and death, and
therefore into total communion with and submission to Samhain, bore
the affliction of great hunger on their festal visit. Out of this
grew the practice of begging, which was a further ritual enactment
and imitation of what the Celts believed to be the activities of the
souls of the dead on their festal visit. Associated with this is the
still further implication that if the souls of the dead and their
imitators were not appeased with "treats", i.e., offerings,
then
the wrath and anger of Samhain would be unleashed through a system of
"tricks", i.e. curses. Such is the true meaning of this
pagan feast. It is then evident that for an Orthodox Christian
participation at any level is impossible and idolatrous, resulting in
a genuine betrayal of God and Church. If we participate in the ritual
activity of imitating the dead and wandering in the dark asking
for
treats or offering
them
to children, we then have willfully sought fellowship with the dead,
whose Lord is not Samhain, but rather Satan. It is to Satan then that
these treats are offered, not to children.
There
are other practices associated with Halloween from which we must stay
away, such as sorcery, fortune telling, divination, games of chance,
witchcraft and the carving of an ugly face upon a pumpkin and then
placing a lit candle within the infamous Jack O' Lantern. The pumpkin
(in older days other vegetables were used) was carved by the Celts in
imitation of the dead and used to convey the new light (from the
sacred oak fire) to the home where the lantern was left burning
through the night. This "holy lantern" is no other than an
imitation of the truly holy votive light (lampada) offered before an
icon of Christ and the saints. Even the use and display of the Jack
O'Lantern involves participation in this "death" festival
honoring Satan.
The
Holy Fathers of the first millennium (a time when the Church was one
and strictly Orthodox) counteracted this Celtic pagan feast by
introducing the Feast of All Saints. It is from this that the term
Halloween developed. The word Halloween has its roots in the Old
English of All Hallow E'en, i.e., the Eve commemorating all those who
were hallowed (sanctified), i.e. Halloween Unfortunately, either due
to lack of knowledge or understanding, the Celtic pagan feast being
celebrated on the same day as the Christian feast of All Saints (in
western Christiandom) came to be known as Halloween.
The
people who remained pagan and therefore anti-Christian reacted to the
Church's attempt to supplant their festival by celebrating this
evening with increased fervor. Many of these practices involved
desecration and mockery of the Church's reverence for Holy Relics.
Holy things, such as crosses and the Reserved Sacrament, were stolen
and used in perverse and sacrilegious ways. The practice of begging
became a system of persecution designed to harass Christians who
were, by their beliefs, unable to participate by making offerings to
those who served the Lord of Death.
One
can see in contemporary Western society that the Western Church's
attempt to supplant this pagan festival with a Christian feast
failed. How then did something that is so obviously contradictory to
the Holy Orthodox faith gain such acceptance among Christian people?
The
answer is spiritual apathy and listlessness which are the spiritual
roots of atheism and turning away from God. Today's society urges one
that Halloween and other such festivities, notwithstanding their
apparent pagan and idolatrous origin, are nonetheless harmless and of
no consequence. Upon closer consideration these pagan festivals are
the source for destroying any kind of spiritual foundation and lead
to disbelief and outright atheism.
Halloween
undermines the very basis of the Church which was founded on the
blood of martyrs who had refused, by giving up their lives, to
partake in any form of idolatry
Holy
Mother Church must take a firm stand in counteracting any such
(pagan) events. Christ taught us that God is the judge in all our
actions and beliefs and that we are either FOR GOD or AGAINST GOD.
There is no neutral or middle of the road approach.
Today
we witness a revival of satanist cults; we hear of satanic services
conducted on Halloween night. Children are kidnapped by satanists for
their ritualistic sacrifices. Orthodox clergy are ritualistically
killed as has happened more than once in California. Everywhere Satan
reaches out to ensnare as many innocent people as possible. The
newsstands are filled with material on spiritualism, supernatural
phenomena, seances, prophesies and all sorts of demonically inspired
works. These works all serve Satan, for they are not the fruit of the
Holy Spirit, but the fruit of the spirit of this world.
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