Hebrews 12:1-2
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,
let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.
And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on
Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he
endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the
throne of God.”
This sermon is dedicated to my Dad, Rev. Russell Vickers, who died at
the end of January 2004. In going through Dad’s sermons, I found one
specifically about Hallowe'en, All Hallows and All Saints. The sermon is also
dedicated to my mother, Kay Vickers, whose birthday was November 1, All Saints
Day.
The sermon grew out of several things. Back in 2004, I saw an item in
the news about one family which was not celebrating Hallowe'en because they
considered it 'un-Christian' - they claimed dressing up as witches and goblins
is a 'pagan' thing, not suitable for Christians. I was a little bemused, but
then a couple of days later overheard a conversation at the check-out counter
in the grocery store, about the non-Christian aspects of Hallowe'en. Just
recently I saw an article about an evangelical church group in the US which is
celebrating “Jesus-ween” as an alternative to Hallowe’en. Again this year there
have been all kinds of articles about the evils of Hallowe’en, and how good
Christians should not observe this time, as it promotes evil.
It was and is clear to me that people simply don’t understand where Hallowe’en
even originated - so they have an opinion, based in a lack of knowledge of
anything outside their own personal experience, and try to put Christianity into a
festival where it has been, one way or another, for hundreds of years
anyway.
So, I have two thoughts to begin with - and of course a few more after
that. First, in our scramble to be 'right', without even knowing the background
of where our holidays come from, we can surely suck a lot of the joy out of
life. To me, life would be flat and stale without at least one witch on a
broomstick, or a ghost or small-sized devil out collecting plunder at the door!
And costumes can be much more creative these days. My sister one year created a
costume called the Sugar Plum Fairy, from the story of the Nutcracker. A few
years ago one of my granddaughters was a firefighter, one was Xena the Warrior
Princess, and my grandson was a knight. Their choice of character was
fascinating. They had a wonderful time, and so did Grandma.
Second, Hallowe'en is as Christian a celebration as any we have.
Christmas and Easter also incorporate elements of what we call
"pagan" faiths. The Advent wreath was originally a huge wagon wheel
hung from the ceiling of a meeting hall, decorated with evergreens and lit with
candles. The Christmas tree was purely a Druidic symbol, and the Hebrew
Scripture contains the admonishment never to cut green trees. The Yule log, and
the word Yule, is an old Viking addition. The egg at Easter was originally a
pagan symbol, yes, but it denotes rebirth and new life. The same holds true of
the Easter bunny. The early missionaries to what are now called the British
Isles and the Celtic peoples, used those existing Celtic Druidic festivals as a
vehicle for conversion to the new Roman faith.
For the Celts, November 1 marked the
beginning of a new year and the coming of winter. The night before their new
year in the old calendar, they celebrated the festival of Samhain (Saween), in
which the god of the earth died, to be reborn in the spring when new life
returned. At the spring solstice, called Beltane, the god rose again, the days
lengthened, and life returned to the earth.
With the rise of Christianity, the festival of Samhain was changed to
Hallowmas, or All Saints, to commemorate the souls of the blessed dead who had
been canonized that year. The night before became known as All Hallows Eve, or
Hollantide. November 2nd became All Souls Day, when prayers were to
be offered to the souls of all departed and those who were waiting in Purgatory
for entry into Heaven. Throughout the centuries, pagan and Christian beliefs intertwined
in celebrations from October 31st right through to November 5th. -
but in the end Hallowe’en - All Hallows - and All Saints, became the lasting Christian celebrations.
During this festival of Samhain, the Celts believed that the barrier or veil between this world and the next, were at their thinnest, hence the
souls of the dead could return to mingle with the living. Coincidentally, Christians
believed the very same thing. Candles were placed in windows, to light the way
for spirits to return to their homes. An extra place was set at the dinner table
in case the spirit came. In order to scare away evil spirits which might cross
over, people wore masks and costumes, lit bonfires, and carved out turnips and
rutabagas, and put a candle inside, as a lamp to light the way.
When the Romans conquered the Celts, they added their own touches to the
Samhain festival; they made centerpieces out of apples and nuts for Pomona, the
Roman goddess of the orchards. They also bobbed for apples and drank cider.
Sound familiar?
Let's jump back a little in our Christian history. In 835, Pope Gregory
IV decided to move the celebration for all the martyrs (later all the saints)
from May 13 to November 1. The name “All Hallows Even” or 'All Holy Evening’
was contracted into our more modern word Hallowe’en. It coincided perfectly with
the Celtic celebration of Samhain and the Roman festival of Pomona - and the
similarities of the coming of the dark, and the rise of the light in the
spring, were not lost on the early missionaries.
On November 2, the Church celebrates All Souls Day. These were feast
days in the church, and their purpose was to remember those who have died,
whether they were officially recognized by the Church as saints or not. It is a
celebration of the 'communion of saints,' which reminds us that the Church is not
bound by space or time. But while the church creatively substituted its own
celebration, it also retained some elements of the pagan faith, which fit in
with the superstitions of the time. Bear in mind that in the early medieval church,
witches and warlocks, imps, goblins, and evil souls were all part of the lore.
Dressing up in costume to scare these 'evil' things became a part of the whole,
from the Christian perspective as well as the Druidic.
The modern view of death derives in part from Pre-Hispanic times,
notably the Aztecs, who believed that after a person died, the soul would
pass through nine levels prior to their final destination, Mictlan - the place
of the dead. They also believed that a person's destiny was founded at birth
and that the soul of that person was dependent on the type of death rather than
the type of life led by that person. How a person died would also determine
what region they would go to. Once they arrived in their specific region a
person's soul would either await transformation or linger, awaiting the next destiny. The tenth month of
the Aztec calendar included a great feast for dead adults. The Spanish Conquest
of 1521 brought about the fusion of Catholic attitudes and indigenous beliefs. All
Souls Day in Central and South American churches became the Day of the Dead,
and it is a result of amalgamation of Pre-Spanish Indian ritual beliefs and the
imposed ritual and dogma of the Catholic church.
So the three days - Hallowe'en, All Saints and All Souls - are just
enough of a mishmash of different pieces of history and elements of many belief systems, that to
eliminate any one of them is a foolish and useless exercise. We cannot
separate our Christian faith and its non-Christian roots, and I don’t think we
should. I think we need to look at them in their context.
But we can look at the Christian meaning that was once given to
Hallowe'en - that we are an imperishable community from all across the ages.
Hallowe'en in its Christian meaning is a source of courage and strength. Do we
find it hard to stand up for justice, fair treatment, truth? Let's not forget
that we are not the first generation of people to face such issues. Others have
walked this same road in some way, in another time, and with the grace of God
have come through it.
In the mid twentieth century, there was a great revolution in Hungary.
Crowds gathered in the square named for the poet Sandov Petofi, who in 1848
launched the revolution against the Hapsburg monarch. A voice in the crowd
shouted out "we vow we can never be slaves" - a line from one of his
poems. Two hundred thousand marched to the statue of Josef Bem, hero of 1848
who fought for freedom. Surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, they found
courage.
In my mind, that parallel between a belief in a God of the
earth who dies in the fall, only to rise again in the spring, is a strong one. Yes, we believe
Jesus rose on the third day - but once again, clearly the parallels of dying and rising
were not lost on the early missionaries to the Celtic peoples. They creatively
found a way to use existing practices in the new country, to explain
Christianity and make new converts.
Finally, I want to tell a story of a little boy named Linus, from the
Peanuts comic strip. Linus believes in a strange hybrid of a jack-o-lantern,
Santa Claus and prophetic saintly God-character named "The Great
Pumpkin." Linus believes the Great Pumpkin will arise from the most
sincere Pumpkin Patch on Halloween night and deliver toys to all the true
believing children. Of course, Linus actually wants to be in the garden when
the benevolent giver of Halloween toys rises from among the pumpkins. What's important, I think, is that Linus believes.
He's never seen the Pumpkin, yet he believes that this saintly and benevolent
character exists - he goes into the Pumpkin Patch every year, hopeful - and
never gives up.
We have those saints who have gone before, to dispel the darkness and
light the way - call them Great Pumpkins if you like - they light the way and
they help us to keep in our sight the light of the world, the author and
perfecter of our faith, Jesus Christ. By understanding the origins of
Hallowe'en, we also find ourselves invited into the grandeur of the community
of the cloud of witnesses which will never perish and which is never touched by
death.
The early Christians, first dispersed by fear and the loss of Jesus,
soon found themselves coming together again, a community of living saints bound
by faith and a vision - a light in the darkness, the light of faith and
commitment. When we come together as a community - yes, to celebrate Hallowe'en
or All Hallows, and All Saints, we remember that we are surrounded here in this
community, in this church, by the witness of those who have gone before, who
support us unseen.
And let’s enjoy the fun and frolic of Hallowe’en, the little faces at
the door, the funny costumes - and the joy children get from it. Let’s not try
to put meanings into it which were never there, those excesses demonstrated in
Hollywood movies. Let’s not take the fun out of our life, and out of our faith,
because we are afraid of something which really holds no threat at all. Remember
that those carved and lit pumpkins are the remnant of a belief in lighting the
way; they are to dispel the darkness, banish fears and give courage and faith
when all seems dark.
And so today, we celebrate the souls of all those who have gone ahead,
the great cloud of witnesses which stands all around us. We celebrate the joy
of faith, knowing where we came from, and believing in where we are going. May
it be so.
Sources:
1. “Hallowe’en and the Saints” a sermon by Rev. Russell K. Vickers
2. “Great Pumpkins! Hallowe’en and the Church” (or How to Take All the
Fun out of Life). A sermon by Rev. Fran Ota, October 2004.
Original paper published in the book “Treat or Trick: Hallowe’en in a
Globalising World” , Cambridge Scholars Press, 2007.
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