Halloween is celebrated in the US and other countries worldwide on the night of October 31st. People place pumpkins and candles on the house’s entrances, and the children go out to collect sweets and candies. Seemingly, there is nothing wrong with this innocent celebration. And because it’s fun to dress up and receive free candy, many Jewish parents allow, or even encourage, their children to celebrate Halloween. That is why I decided to write about the origins of Halloween and show how its celebration is modeled after pagan rituals. And it still preserves all the elements related to idolatry.
THE EXPLOITATION OF FEAR
Maimonides explains in the first chapter of Aboda Zara that the rituals of idolatry were conceived by sorcerers or pagan priests – professional demagogues – for their own benefit by manipulating the masses and taking advantage of people’s fears and innocence. That is why pagan rituals are always associated with superstitions, magic, and esoteric beliefs. “Death” was always their favorite subject of exploitation. The human vulnerability in the face of death and the eternal mystery: “What happens to those who die? Where are they? Can they communicate with us?” paved the way for ordinary people to lend themselves to performing or submitting to any rite, no matter how irrational or ridiculous it was. Halloween is no exception to this rule. Halloween “is” actually the rule because. Halloween literally means the “day of all the (dead) spirits”.
THE ORIGIN OF HALLOWEEN
Halloween has its origin in the Celtic culture. Celtic magicians, called “druids,” made people believe that evil spirits and the spirits of the dead visited the world of the living on this day. According to the “druids”, the dead were like Hollywood zombies: harmful and dangerous. Their spirits returned to this world with grievances, thirsty for blood and eager to take someone with them. To appease these spirits and avoid “tragedies,” the Druids taught the people to carve pumpkins into the shape of skulls to acknowledge and welcome the dead. Then, candles should be lit inside the pumpkins to help the spirits to find their way in the world of the living. Cats were critical on Halloween because, according to the Druids, these animals could smell and sense the presence of invisible hostile spirits. However, black cats should be avoided (or killed!) on Halloween because witches are reincarnated as black cats. The druids said that, apart from the dead, the devil might appear that night and arrive from hell.
THE NIGHT OF THE ZOMBIES
So, what did people need to do to save themselves from zombies, witches, and the devil? They had to bribe those evil spirits. And guess who disguised themselves as the bad guys? The Celtic priests! The druids were wearing masks or costumes to look like zombies and devils. At night, they knocked on the doors of the houses, and that’s when their business began! They demanded from the owner of the house a human sacrifice. But if you were not willing to sacrifice any of your family members, the kind druids will also allow you to redeem these sacrifices with gifts: food or –in England and Ireland–cash. In sum, something had to be paid to the Celtic magicians for protection, so they would not curse you and your family. And people, scared to death, obviously gave the druids what they asked for.
This is, in a nutshell, the story of Halloween.
HALLOWEEN AND OUR CHILDREN
All the elements that were part of the ancient pagan Halloween are still present in today’s celebration of Halloween. In the contemporary celebration of Halloween, children “replace” the druids: they dress up as dead people, witches, or devils and knock on the door demanding gifts. This pagan ritual is called: “trick or treat”, which literally means: «Either you give me a ‘treat’, that is, some gift; or I’ll do you ‘trick’, a harming black magic trick, a curse or something that will hurt you “. Eggs at your door is a very naive example. As you can see from this brief description, Halloween might seem fun or innocent, but it is deeply rooted in the most primitive form of idolatry: the cult of death. Halloween also reminds us how corrupt pagan leaders would use the natural fear of death to abuse innocent people.
For all this, we Jews should absolutely avoid participating in Halloween, actively or passively. There’s nothing holy or positive about Halloween…
LA RÉSISTANCE
Well, there might be something educational about Halloween: avoiding it! And teaching our children how idolatry went hand in hand with corruption in the name of religion and the abuse of the innocent through fear. And that all these pagan practices were challenged by our patriarch Abraham Abinu, who destroyed idols, fought with pagan charlatans, and taught humanity that the Creator showers us with His blessings and protects us, and He does not ask us for anything in return!
Resisting Halloween is an extraordinary opportunity to teach our children to stay away from the corruption of paganism and to show them how privileged we are to be descendants of our patriarch Abraham Abinu.
Yosef Bitton
THE EXPLOITATION OF FEAR
Maimonides explains in the first chapter of Aboda Zara that the rituals of idolatry were conceived by sorcerers or pagan priests – professional demagogues – for their benefit, to manipulate the masses and take advantage of people’s fears and innocence. That is why pagan rituals are always associated with superstitions, magic, and esoteric beliefs. “Death” was always their favorite subject of exploitation. The human vulnerability in the face of death and the eternal mystery: “What happens to those who die? Where are they? Can they communicate with us?” paved the way for ordinary people to lend themselves to performing or submitting to any rite, no matter how irrational or ridiculous it was. Halloween is no exception to this rule. Halloween is the rule because it literally means the “day of all the (dead) spirits” .
THE ORIGIN OF HALLOWEEN
Halloween has its origin in the Celtic culture. Celtic magicians, called “druids,” made people believe that evil spirits and the spirits of the dead visited the world of the living on this day. According to the “druids”, the dead were like Hollywood zombies: harmful and dangerous. Their spirits returned to this world with grievances, thirsty for revenge and eager to take someone with them. To appease these spirits and avoid “tragedies,” the Druids taught the people to carve pumpkins into the shape of skulls to recognize and welcome the dead. Then, candles should be lit inside the pumpkins to help spirits to find their way in the world of the living. Cats were critical on Halloween because, according to the Druids, these animals could smell and sense the presence of invisible hostile spirits. However, black cats should be avoided (or killed!) on Halloween because witches are reincarnated as black cats. The druids said that, apart from the dead, the devil might appear that night and arrive from hell.
DAME MI CALAVERITA!
So, what do people need to do to save themselves from zombies, witches, and the devil? Guess who disguised themselves as the bad guys? The Celtic priests! They were wearing masks or costumes to look like zombies and devils. At night, they knocked on the doors of the houses, and that’s when their business began! They demanded from the owner of the house human sacrifice. Still, they would also allow you to redeem those human sacrifices with gifts: food or, in England and Ireland: cash. In sum, something had to be paid to the Celtic magicians so they would not curse the house owner and his family. People, scared to death, gave the druids what they asked for. This is, in a nutshell, the story of Halloween. In the contemporary celebration of Halloween, children “replace” these druids: they dress up as dead people, witches, or devils and knock on the door demanding a gift. This pagan ritual is called: “trick or treat”, which literally means: «Either you give me a ‘treat’, that is, some gift; or I’ll do you ‘trick’, a harming magic trick, a curse or something that will hurt you “.
HALLOWEEN AND OUR CHILDREN
As you can see from this brief description, Halloween might seem fun or innocent, but it is deeply rooted in the most primitive form of idolatry: the cult of death. This also reminds us of the corrupt priests’ exploitation of the fear of death and abuse of innocent people. All the elements that were part of the ancient pagan Halloween are still present in today’s celebration of Halloween. For all this, we Jews should absolutely avoid participating in Halloween, actively or passively. There’s nothing holly or good about Halloween, let alone educational.
LA RÉSISTANCE
Well, there might be something educational about Halloween: avoiding it! And teaching our children how idolatry went hand in hand with corruption in the name of religion and the abuse of the innocent through fear. And that all these pagan practices were challenged by our patriarch Abraham Abinu, who destroyed the idols, fought with pagan charlatans, and taught humanity that the Creator showers us with His blessings and protects us, and He does not ask us for anything in return! Resisting Halloween is an extrarodnary opportunity to teach our children to stay away from the myths of paganism and to show them how privileged we are to be descendants of our patriarch Abraham Abinu.
