Origins of Halloween

In my quest to find out more about the history of Halloween, I came across this article. This is helps answer my question about Halloween as to where it came from. I also found that trick or treating started in the 19th century. It is believed to have started when the poor would go door to door after harvest asking for food in exchange for a prayer for the souls in each house. They called it souling. Now days it is just another holiday the corporate giants are taking advantage of for a quick buck. What would it be like if we still went door to door and started praying for the souls in each house? Hmmm I wonder if the political races would have a different kind of tone?
I got the article below from History.com

Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in).
The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.
To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.
During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.
By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain.
The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of "bobbing" for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.
By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints' Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely believed today that the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. Even later, in A.D. 1000, the church would make November 2 All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead. It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints', All Saints', and All Souls', were called Hallowmas.

Trust in Papa

The plan of God verses the plan of Man, who is going to win? Who do you think? Why do we as humans try to out play, out guess, outwit, and even go as far as lie to the one and only one who created all of us, you, me, the dog that is barking down the street, the birds flying in the sky, and the trees that are changing colors. I have been thinking about several incidents lately where I thought I was better. I thought I could do it on my own, on my terms. Funny thing is I am slowly learning that I should not test, nor play against the creator yet I continue to challenge.

I have heard of countless stories of where God provided after someone did some sort of action that favors God. Of course lately I am hearing of stories and being reminded of stories that involve money. I heard a pastor speak recently talking about money and tithing. When he was in his twenties, his wife was wanting them to start tithing, he didn’t think that college students could tithe, she of course being the better of the two heard God say tithe One Hundred dollars, he said no, she said yes, she won, they tithed out of obedience. That very next day in their small apartment, a One hundred dollar bill showed up on their doorstep. Out of the blue, the money didn’t even have a note with it. Is this an impossible occurrence? No, I have had the opportunity to live the story, as well as heard others tell about similar stories. When I was in my twenties, I was down to my last three dollars, I went to church and had a conviction come over me, usually I would put whatever change I have in my pocket into the collection plate, that is, if I knew that I had more stashed away somewhere else. On this particular day, I only had three dollars to my name. I felt moved to put the money into the offering plate. To go a little more into the story, I was out of gas in my car, no food at my apartment and no job, however, I did have an interview the next day, however wasn’t sure how I would get there, remember no gas in the car. Well, as you already know, I put the money in the offering tray, scared to death, but prayed to God, to help me, I released all of my troubles to Him, I didn’t ask for a solution, but knew that I needed to walk in obedience. At that time it was putting the money into the offering plate and placing my total faith into his hands, in other words surrendered my pride…The day after I put the three dollars in the offering tray, I received my income tax return check. I do not remember how much it was, but it was more than a hundred fold, as God promises. When you remove your pride and give up your offering to God, He will provide, it may be monetary value, it may be knowledge, whatever it is take it, and share your story with others. Make sure pride doesn’t get into the way.

Halloween is not just for kids anymore

One of my favorite holidays is Halloween. Growing up it was a time that I could dress up as something that I wasn’t. Some years I was a serious super hero, Batman, Spiderman, or Superman. I remember how much fun it was to dress up as a Superhero or Villain with a cape…man was I cool. Then I started getting a little bit older, the superhero thing just wasn’t as cool anymore, I had to be something grotesque. Thanks to horror movies, there were plenty of inspirations out there. I was a soldier that looked like death warmed over, a pumpkin head, a vampire; a farmer that looked like the mower ran over and lost an arm, and an evil scarecrow. As I continued to get older the costumes got more intense as makeup was introduced into the lineup. O what fun a teenage boy could have with makeup and not get made fun of. Of course it had to be grotesque and all, but still makeup. I did try one year to be a boy taking a shower in a shower; it wasn’t the easiest costume to wear. (I think the idea came from the Karate Kid).


And then one year…It wasn’t cool to dress up anymore…for a few years at least, then began the adult Halloween parties. It’s the one night of the year that grown-ups can dress up as any fantasy they want and have their persona excepted.


Go shopping in a Halloween store. You will see just as many adult costumes as kids. It is a perfect escape from the adult humdrum. Is it really ok for a grown adult to dress up in a costume and stay at home for kids coming by for trick or treating? I think that is a little extreme and a bit scary itself.


Many businesses hold Halloween office parties and allow, if not encourage, their employees to wear costumes to work as part of the Halloween spirit, at times they even reward this type of behavior. Two or three times I took part of this, even though it felt weird, work is suppose to be a professional place, especially when it is a corporate office. None the less, my team decide they were going to dress up together and as a team. So the first year we dressed up we went as the Adam’s Family, yours truly dressed as Gomez, and yes we had cousin it and Fester too. The guy who did Fester actually shaved his head for the costume, now that is extreme. I know that there were pictures taken, lucky for me I can not find any. We did make a great family, even the judges thought so, we placed first in our division


But most of all, it has also become a social event for donning their costumes and heading to Halloween parties. Whether at someone's home, local night clubs or the office, just about everyone enjoys the Halloween festivities. The most popular years are when Halloween falls on either a Friday or Saturday for obvious reasons.


While traditionally filled with ghouls, goblins, ghost and other scary characters, Halloween night is also a very sexy holiday. Costumes portraying enchanting Witches and seductive Vampires are always a great choice, and let us not forget the Mistress of the Dark herself, Elvira. Its also a perfect time for couples to dress up together as anything they want to be from a Mad Scientist and Nurse to a Playboy and his Bunny, the possibilities seem endless! Every year you'll find new versions of Halloween costumes, from very sexy witch costumes to nurses, firewomen, pirates, you name it! Just as anything else we do, we go to the extreme. Each year has to top the previous year, the sicker the better, the sexier the better, the more risky the better.
And why not, Halloween is the one time of the year that almost anything goes, allowing people to live out fantasies, if only for this one night.


The social freedom of Halloween gives people who are normally stressed out and/or emotionally restrained a chance to "let loose", get spooky, scary, naughty and even sexy without being judged. It's simply an assumed persona for a night of celebration.


Every year more adults are dressing in costumes for their Halloween festivities. According to a 2005 Halloween Online survey, more than seventy-five percent of adults who participate in Halloween are going to wear a costume as part of their Halloween merrymaking.


So what I want to know is where is the Christian costumes, Christians dress up in their religious t-shirts throughout the year. Why do you not see religious themed costumes, maybe they are out there and I have just missed them. After all isn’t Halloween really a Christian Holliday?


I do not remember what the percentage of people in the United States say they are Christians, if they truly were, and truly followed the Laws set forth by Papa and confirmed by Jesus. I do not think that they would partake in Halloween. I am pretty sure they would not dress up as witches, demons and evil angels. Here is what the saddest part is, I am sure that very few of these festive goers will repent, or even think about Papa, no Instead they will let their alter-ego take charge and have fun. And then go to church on Sunday as if nothing happened. I know that I am one of those hypocrites.

So this is where I am led to, Halloween traditionally has been one of my favorite holidays. However I really do not understand what is really behind the whole holiday, the good verses bad. So I am setting out to research and find out more about it. Until the truth is unturned be safe and enjoy the fall festivities.

Oct. 1 Family Update

Hello everyone! We hope you are having a great Fall.

Well, our 50 States in 50 days "goal of completion" is just a few weeks away – and we have a long way to go. We have heard from several of you (some of you are receiving your first Warren Family Update right now) to add you to our prayer team, and we thank you. Here are the states that we have covered, if you can offer others, please let us know: Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. Didn't get the full e-mail of details? Checkout warrenfamilyadventures.blogspot.com! As a reminder, this is separate from our normal updates, this will be a weekly email focused only on prayer requests and praises for our family and friends in Honduras.

Makenzie just had her 3rd birthday yesterday! Wow. It is crazy how fast time flies. We also had a fun birthday party on Saturday with friends and family, the Tumblebus came, a piñata, cake and ice cream, and of course she got great gifts! Thank you to everyone that was able to participate, as this may be her last one in the states for a while. She had a great time. One of her gifts was a Build-A-Bear that was not yet stuffed. We took her yesterday to fill it, and of course, she had to dress the bear named "Girl Bear", complete with everything from "big-a-girl panties" (as Mak calls them) to hair! See the picture attached, cuz she turned out very cute. She is also becoming a little photographer – she got her first digital camera (look out Drager Photography!)

Andy continues to have some very successful business meetings about the coffee and other upcoming projects. We want to remind you that the coffee should be available online within the next several weeks, and we will let you know the link as soon as we know it. Times are very exciting right now with the coffee, we have gained some great contacts while we have been here, and God keeps providing more every day. He is working on a fundraising dinner for the coffee project, hopefully to happen sometime in November. Also, a cell phone drive for fundraising for us to go to language school in Guatemala and Honduras. The other thing is that he needs a root canal. He has been in pain the last several days, so he is scheduled for Tuesday. We would appreciate prayers for the fundraising planning and his root canal.

My biggest job while we have been here is scheduling. We have had several visits with family, friends, and supporters, and we have a very busy 2 weeks ahead. We have been asked to help with a house/family as the parents are gone for a few days next week, and I have been asked to come back to my old office and work for a few days while they have training. We are still trying to figure out our "travel schedule" – but I haven't been able to get answers from churches as to when to come. Please be praying for God to show us the right phone calls to make.

So, we have started planning for our return to Honduras. We will probably be leaving on November 30th, and will head straight to Guatemala for Language School for a few weeks, and to Honduras for Christmas. Please also pray for logistics to work out for all of this.

We thank you again for your continued prayers and support. We could not do this without you! If you haven't seen, we have updated our website: www.warrenfamilyadventures.com and we have even added a page so you can see exactly where we are. We hope it helps. Feedback would be great!

We love you all. We love hearing from you too!

Because of Him,
Andy, Corbett and Makenzie

PS: Our website and blogs:
www.warrenfamilyadventures.com
http://warrenfamilyadventures.blogspot.com
http://thejavapapa.blogspot.com
-- Warren Family AdventuresAndy, Corbett and MakenziePO Box 10516Fayetteville, AR 72703