Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!iuvax!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: mcg@lakart.uucp (Maralen Goodenough) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Halloween Message-ID: Date: 11 Oct 89 08:48:13 GMT Lines: 26 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu conan@wish-bone.berkeley.edu writes: >For what it's worth: Halloween was originally a Christian holiday: Hallowed >Eve, the vigil of the feast of All Saint's day, which is November 1. For some >reason it was believed that ghosts and demons roamed the Earth that night-- >our traditions have evolved out of that. If you go right back to the distant past, it is possible to find an Ordo Kalendar where _EVERY_ day (except one) is dedicated to a Saint. The fact that a while back the R.C.'s "decanonised" a number of Saints rather put a spoiler on that. However, in those days, there was just one day that was not dedicated: All Hallow's Eve. For this reason perhaps it was taken as the day when evil spirits had the best chance of being out and about. The reason people dressed up in costumes is far simpler than some here have made out: it was simply a measure to confuse the evil spirits, and to prevent them (the humans) from beine recognised and attracting the unwanted attentions of the spirits. Over the years, this has degenerated into what we celebrate now, just like Christmas and Easter have changed into a celebration of Santa Claus (Saint Nicholas), and the easter bunny. -- mcg@lakart.UUCP - Maralen Goodenough +---+ | +-+-+ ....... !harvard!xait!lakart!mcg +-+-+ | AKA: mcg%lakart.uucp@harvard.harvard.edu +---+