Halloween is celebrated in the United States and many other countries around the world on the night of October 31st. People place pumpkins and candles at the entrances of their homes, and children go out to collect sweets and candies. Seemingly, there is nothing wrong with this innocent celebration. Because dressing up and receiving free candy is fun, 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. 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 superstition, magic, and esoteric beliefs.
The fear of death was always the pagan priests’ favorite subject of exploitation. The deepest human vulnerability—“What happens to those who die? Where are they? Do dead people come back and affect us?”—paved the way for ordinary people to perform or submit to any rite, no matter how irrational or absurd, to protect themselves from these imaginary fears.
Halloween is no exception to this rule. In fact, it is the rule, because the word Halloween literally means “the day of all the (dead) spirits.”
THE ORIGIN OF HALLOWEEN
Halloween has its origins in 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. Candles were then lit inside the pumpkins to help the spirits find their way in the world of the living. Cats were considered essential on Halloween because, according to the Druids, these animals could sense and smell the presence of invisible hostile spirits. However, black cats were to be avoided—or even killed—because witches were believed to be reincarnated as black cats. The Druids also taught that, besides the dead, the devil himself might appear that night, arriving from hell.
THE NIGHT OF THE ZOMBIES
So, what did people have to do to save themselves from zombies, witches, and the devil? They had to bribe those evil spirits. And who disguised themselves as those terrifying figures? The Celtic priests! The Druids wore masks and costumes to look like zombies and devils. At night, they went from house to house—and that’s when their business began. They demanded a human sacrifice from the homeowners. But if a family refused to offer one of their members, the “kind” Druids would allow them to redeem the sacrifice with gifts—food or money—in England and Ireland.
In short, something had to be paid to the Celtic magicians for protection so they would not curse you or your family. And people, terrified, gave the Druids whatever they demanded.
This, in a nutshell, is 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. In the modern version, children “replace” the Druids: they dress up as dead people, witches, or devils and go door to door demanding gifts. This pagan ritual is called “trick or treat,” which means: “Either you give me a ‘treat’—a gift—or I’ll play a ‘trick’ on you, a harmful prank, a curse, or something that will hurt you.” Throwing eggs at someone’s door is a very common illustration of this idea.
As you can see from this brief description, Halloween might seem fun or innocent, but it is deeply rooted in one of the most primitive forms of idolatry: the cult of death. Halloween also reminds us how corrupt pagan leaders once used the natural fear of death to exploit innocent people.
For all these reasons, we Jews should avoid participating in Halloween—actively or passively. There is nothing holy or positive about it.
LA RÉSISTANCE
Thinking as an educator—I believe that Halloween is an excellent opportunity to teach our children about the true nature of idolatry and our duty to stay away from it. How so?
By explaining to them that idolatry, the greatest offense against God, was very common in ancient times. We Jews have opposed the falsehood of idolatry since the day our patriarch Abraham destroyed the idols of his father Terach.
However, it is often difficult to explain paganism and its abuses, because the primitive ‘aboda zara’ has almost disappeared.
Halloween is an opportunity—especially related to this week’s Parasha: Lekh Lekha—for our children to recognize the superstitions of ‘aboda zara’, understand their falsehood, and become aware of the importance of staying away from them. In doing so, we will feel even more privileged to be the descendants of our heroic patriarch Abraham Abinu.
