what does the word halloween mean
the night of 31 October, the eve of All Saints’ Day, often celebrated by children dressing up in frightening masks and costumes. Halloween is thought to be associated with the Celtic festival Samhain, when ghosts and spirits were believed to be abroad.
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.
The name is actually a shortened version of “All Hallows’ Even,” the eve of All Hallows’ Day. “Hallow” is an Old English word for “holy person,” and All Hallows’ Day is simply another name for All Saints’ Day, the day Catholics commemorate all the saints. At some point, people began referring to All Hallows’ Even as “Hallowe’en” and then simply “Halloween.”
The word Halloween is derived from the term, “All Hallows Eve,” which occurred on Oct. 31. “All Saints Day” or “All Hallows Day” was the next Day, Nov. 1st. Therefore, Halloween is the eve of All Saints Day.
Halloween today is performed usually by adherents of witchcraft who use the night for their rituals. Witches celebrate Halloween as the “Feast of Samhain” the first feast of the witchcraft year. Being a festival of the dead, Halloween is a time when witches attempt to communicate with the dead through various forms of divination.
Halloween’s origin can be found in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced saw-en, meaning ‘end of summer’). For the Celts who celebrated their new year on November 1st, the day marked the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter, the end of light and the beginning of darkness, the end of life and the beginning of death.
The Bible does not mention Halloween. However, both the ancient origins of Halloween and its modern customs show it to be a celebration based on false beliefs about the dead and invisible spirits, or demons.
If we want to know the meaning of the word Halloween, we can divide the word in “hallow” and “ween”. According to the American Heritage Dictionary these words mean:
- 1. To make or set apart as holy. 2. To respect or honor greatly; revere.
- [Archaic.] To think; suppose.
By combining these to meanings we get:
- 1. A day that is supposedly holy. 2. A day that we respect for its holiness.
The question that rises is: What has Halloween of holy or sacred? Are the stories of ghost and witches holy?
Obviously, there is something suspicious about this feast. For this reason I think is worthy to explore how Halloween originated.
According to the Grolier’s Academic American Encyclopedia: “Halloween was originally a Celtic festival for the dead, celebrated on the last day of the Celtic year, Oct. 31.” The Encyclopedia Britannica explain briefly about the Celtic religion. Their words are as follows:
“Because of their great reverence for the art of memory, the pre-Christian Celts themselves left no writings. Other than a few inscriptions, the principal sources of modern information about them are contemporary Greek and Latin writers, notably Poseidonius, Lucan, and Julius Caesar. Insight can also be gleaned from the sagas and myths, particularly of Ireland and Wales, that were recorded by native Christian monks centuries later.”
It is thought to have originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts.