Dear China Friends,
WHAT IS
HALLOWEEN ?
“Halloween or Hallowe’en is a contraction of All
Hallows’ Even. It is a yearly holiday
observed world wide on October 31. It
“was originally the New Years Eve of the Celts, the eve of Samhain or “Winter’
Eve.” It was generally believed that the
dead or disembodied spirits of all those who had died throughout the preceding
year would come back in search of living bodies to possess for the next
year. It was believed to be their only
hope for the afterlife.”
“All who were alive, of course, didn’t want to
be possessed by these lost souls. So on
the night of October 31st villagers would extinguish the fires in their homes to
make them cold and inhospitable. Then
they would dress up in ghoulish costumes and parade around the neighborhood
making as much noise as possible to frighten away the spirits looking for a live
body to possess.” Food and drink
accounted for the villagers crazy actions as much as fear of being spirit
possessed.
“It was
believed in ninth-century Europe that after you died, your soul remained in
limbo. To send the souls up to Heaven
the Christians used to go ‘souling.’ On
31st October, All Souls Day, they would go around to all the villages and
collect ‘soul cakes’ – a cake made out of square pieces of bread with
currants. The relatives of the dead
would pass the cakes on to the Christians who would promise to pray for their
relatives which in turn would send them on to heaven. The more cakes given – the
more prayers said. This is one custom
which was thought that trick-or-treating originated from.”
Today,
Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, attending costume parties,
carving Jack-o-lanterns from pumpkins, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing,
visiting haunted attractions, playing pranks, telling scary stories, and
watching horror films. Decorations
include harvest crops, black cats, witches, human skeletons and ghosts. (Adapted from IT by Tom Atkinson)
The Bible does
speak of an unseen spirit world! “For we
do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the
authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the
spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). It is faith in God that will keep us safe
from such unseen powers of darkness.
“Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he
will draw near to you” (James 4:7).
Recently I
enjoyed a week’s visit from my oldest daughter, Becky. She lives down south in Fayettville,
Arkansas. She is a nurse and the mother
of 3 married sons and grandchildren. One
of her sons married Christina, a lovely Chinese girl. The most exciting thing we did during her
visit was to ride in a duck mobile that travels in the water as well as on land
all the while the driver described the sights.
I hope you get to enjoy doing fun things with your family as well.
Your Friend,
Tom Atkinson
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