What is the Origin of Halloween? And would it be acceptable to god to observe it?

samhain...say saw win.

no. jesus is life. samhain is death.

Halloween is an American festival rooted in folklore and various traditions, it was made popular by home & garden magazines who proposed ways to party & entertain with spooky celebrations because Victorians loved a ghost story. Along the way it picks up ideas from various festivals and traditions throughout the ages, but only vaguely.

My Gods don't get offended if people feel like celebrating things like candy and fun costumes. It's just for fun.

https://hubpages.com/religion-philosophy/From-Samh...

What is the Origin of Halloween?

Though celebrated as a Christian holiday, Halloween finds its origins in pre-Christian festivals that propagate false ideas about life after death. Interestingly, we read: “After the Reformation, Protestants rejected this feast along with other important ones such as Christmas and Easter. Nevertheless, Halloween folk customs of pagan origin flourished.”​—Encyclopædia Britannica (1959), Volume 11, page 107.

All Saints’ Day: “There is little doubt that the Christian church sought to eliminate or supplant the Druid festival of the dead by introducing the alternative observance of All Saints’ day on Nov. 1. This feast was established to honour all saints, known or unknown, but it failed to displace the pagan celebration of Samhain.”​—Encyclopædia Britannica (1959), Volume 11, page 107.

The 1910 edition of The Encyclopædia Britannica states: “All Souls’ Day . . . the day set apart in the Roman Catholic Church for the commemoration of the faithful departed. The celebration is based on the doctrine that the souls of the faithful which at death have not been cleansed from venial sins, or have not atoned for past transgressions, cannot attain the Beatific Vision, and that they may be helped to do so by prayer and by the sacrifice of the mass. . . . Certain popular beliefs connected with All Souls’ Day are of pagan origin and immemorial antiquity. Thus the dead are believed by the peasantry of many Catholic countries to return to their former homes on All Souls’ night and partake of the food of the living.”—Vol. I, p. 709.

The Encyclopedia Americana says: “Elements of the customs connected with Halloween can be traced to a Druid ceremony in pre-Christian times. The Celts had festivals for two major gods—a sun god and a god of the dead (called Samhain), whose festival was held on November 1, the beginning of the Celtic New Year. The festival of the dead was gradually incorporated into Christian ritual.”—(1977), Vol. 13, p. 725.

The book The Worship of the Dead points to this origin: “The mythologies of all the ancient nations are interwoven with the events of the Deluge . . . The force of this argument is illustrated by the fact of the observance of a great festival of the dead in commemoration of the event, not only by nations more or less in communication with each other, but by others widely separated, both by the ocean and by centuries of time. This festival is, moreover, held by all on or about the very day on which, according to the Mosaic account, the Deluge took place, viz., the seventeenth day of the second month—the month nearly corresponding with our November.” (London, 1904, Colonel J. Garnier, p. 4)

Thus these celebrations actually began with an honoring of people whom God had destroyed because of their badness in Noah’s day.—Gen. 6:5-7; 7:11.

Thousands of Wiccans, who follow ancient Celtic rituals, still call Halloween by the ancient name Samhain and consider it to be the most sacred night of the year. “Christians ‘don’t realize it, but they’re celebrating our holiday with us. . . . We like it,’” stated the newspaper USA Today when quoting a professed witch.

Is doing so acceptable to God?

The Bible warns: “There must never be anyone among you who . . . consults ghosts or spirits, or calls up the dead.” (Deuteronomy 18:10-12, The Jerusalem Bible) While some view Halloween as harmless fun, the Bible indicates that the practices associated with it are not.

At 1 Corinthians 10:20, 21, the Bible says: “I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too.”—New International Version.

Such holidays honoring “spirits of the dead” as if they were alive in another realm are contrary to the Bible’s description of death as a state of complete unconsciousness:

Ecclesiastes 9:5,10

5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing at all, nor do they have any more reward, because all memory of them is forgotten.

10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do with all your might, for there is no work nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom in the Grave, where you are going.

Psalm 146:3, 4

3 Do not put your trust in princes

Nor in a son of man, who cannot bring salvation.

4 His spirit goes out, he returns to the ground;

On that very day his thoughts perish.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, pointed to the future resurrection of the dead for those who practice good things and those who practice vile things --

John 5:28, 29

28 Do not be amazed at this, for the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, and those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment.

Eph. 5:10, 11: “Keep on making sure of what is acceptable to the Lord; and quit sharing with them in the unfruitful works that belong to the darkness, but, rather, even be reproving them.”

“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive. No one should seek their own good, but the good of others."

LAST YEAR, while his neighbors were busy preparing for Halloween in some countries, a popular annual holiday with strong spiritistic overtones 14-year-old Michael in Canada had other things on his mind. In an essay that he wrote for school, Michael stated:

Tonight is the night before Halloween. As I look outside my window, I see that all my neighbors’ lawns are decorated with tombstones and skeletons and that jack-o’-lanterns light their windows.

Parents are making adjustments to their children’s costumes; children are dreaming about how much candy they’ll get tomorrow.

My family is different. Our lawn isn’t decorated, and our windows aren’t lit up. People ask me why I don’t celebrate Halloween. Basically, Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t celebrate it because of its origins.

Surprisingly, I like Halloween time. “Why?” you may ask. Because it makes me think. It makes me think about the reason I choose not to do certain things.

Each person has to answer for himself whether the origins of a custom matter. I think that the origins do matter.

For example, most people would get upset if their neighbors got dressed up as Nazis. Why? Because of the origins of Nazi uniforms and what they stand for principles that most people find offensive.

I find the principles offensive that the devil, wicked spirits, and witches represent, and I don’t want to be associated with them.

It’s good to think about the choices we make and our reasons for making them and to make choices based on principle rather than on what is popular.

That’s why I like this time of year. I am proud to be different and to stand by what I believe in.

All Hallow's Eve, followed by All Saint's Day. Both are church holidays. If you're talking about the early Celtic festival of harvest, autumn, change of the year, there's lots of great info out there. There's no need to go make stuff about how it's Satanic or full of evil crap. You can actually go to reliable sites, get the info you want, be done with it.

All Hallows' Even(ing) = Halloween. It's the evening before All Saints'/Hallows' Day. God doesn't observe holidays, but there's no reason why we shouldn't.

Hallowe'en is a pagan festival which, like many others, was adopted by the Church. In a Christian context it's about remembering people we loved who have died, so yes, that's fine and you should feel okay to observe it.

Hallowe’en started out as a witches’ celebration (un-holy-day) called Samhain. At Samhain, farmers brought livestock in from summer pastures and people gathered to build shelters for winter. The festival also had religious significance, and people burned fruits, vegetables, grain, and possibly animals as offerings to the gods. In ancient Celtic stories, Samhain was a magical time of transition when important battles were fought and fairies cast spells. It was a time when the barriers between the natural world and the supernatural were broken. The Celts believed that the dead could walk among the living at this time. During Samhain, the living could visit with the dead, who they believed held secrets of the future. Scholars believe that Halloween's association with ghosts, food, and fortunetelling began with these pagan customs more than 2,000 years ago.

Many of the customs of the pagan Celts survived even after the people became “Christianized.” In the 800s A.D., the church established All Saints' Day on November 1. About two hundred years later, it added All Souls' Day on November 2. This day was set aside for people to pray for friends and family who had died. People made many of the old pagan customs part of this Christian holy day. Some people put out food for their ancestors, or left a lantern burning in the window so that ghosts could find their way home for the night.

What many people don't know, however is that there is a far more ancient and even more sinister Hindu Halloween. It starts on September 17 till October, 1. They believe that Hindu ancestors' spirits descend to Earth for 15 days to see their grand and great-grandchildren - bud NOT their bones (so no bones in Hindu Halloween) These 15 days Hindus will not celebrate any auspicious functions - no marriages, engagements, initiation, purchase of property, new house blessing, baby showers, purchase of gold, silver, diamonds. They will pray ONLY to their ancestors. They further believe that when the Hindu ancestors ascend back to heaven the European ancestors descend down to Earth, October 1 to October 31. So there is the run-on from direct paganism to supposedly Christian customs that were an attempt to 'Christianize' what they knew of paganism in Europe, but knowing the more ancient Hindu practices should warn all Christians that it is of the devil.

"The things the nations sacrifice they sacrifice to demons, and not to God... You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot have a part in both the Lord's table and the table of demons. Are we trying to arouse the Lord's jealousy? Are we stronger than he is?" 1 Cor 10:20-22 That shows it is unacceptable to God for Christians to observe Hallowe'en.

Halloween or Hallowe'en (a contraction of Hallows' Evening), also known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve, is a celebration observed in a number of countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows' Day. It begins the three-day observance of Allhallowtide, the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the faithful departed. <t><