The Halloween Cycle of Holidays

Religion Clause Blog flagged an entry from a pagan-related website entitled "Christian Activists Disrupt Salem Witches Market Amid Renewed Calls to Oppose Halloween." 

Some people see Halloween (and various other things, including fantasy books) as a threat to Christianity and/or as overall a bad thing. This is somewhat ironic.

The very name comes from it being the eve of All Hallows' Day, better known as All Saints' Day (11/1). That holiday is a holy day of obligation in the Roman Catholic Church, which could include going to mass on a day other than Sunday. 

November 2nd is All Souls' Day, which includes remembering the souls in purgatory. Relatedly, around this time (including 10/31-11/2), are Days of the Dead, an often colorfully and a tad morbidly celebrated holiday to honor deceased loved ones.  

These holidays suggest various Halloween traditions, along with it being around harvest time. That can explain all the pumpkins. Trick or treat might be connected to the traditional requests for alms, which could have a certain threatening side.

Saints and souls can involve costumes, scary stories, and all the rest. Imagination can help us examine, sometimes on a subconscious level, our fears and other scary things. Children use play for such things too, including overall to prepare for adulthood.

We can understand how some people might think witches and goblins would glorify bad things. I think they tend to have a limited view. Partially, this is because, like a vaccine (yeah, I know), a little bit of "evil" can help keep the true evil away. 

Halloween and other fall-related events also honor our connection to the earth, seasons, and all that. Pagans are often particularly concerned about such things. They are "nature religions" and all that.  

And then Election Day comes around, and we start to think about other things, though hopefully, some of the candidates care about the earth and all that.  

Yes, Thanksgiving comes later, but from the stuff at the discount store, it seems Christmas is here.