There's a Paradoxical Pagan in Every Christian (or, Vampires, Mummies and the Holy Ghost)

Welcome to All Saints' Day. The day after Halloween. A Christian holiday following closely in the footsteps of a Pagan celebration.

I came to think of the irony in all of this last night, while I was escorting my son around the streets of our town for the annual "trick-or-treat" night. Halloween is just one interesting example of a Pagan-like ritual being celebrated by many people who probably claim to be good, practicing Christians. And let me get this out in the open - I don't think there is anything wrong at all with the holidays we celebrate, and how we celebrate them. I'm just using this forum to point out some irony....

Halloween was originally celebrated as the day before All Saints' Day. The day when, supposedly, spirits were roaming around the countryside looking for bodies to possess. So the inhabitants would wear all sorts of demonic like costumes and act all strange, dancing around and making lots of noise, to confuse the spirits. Interestingly enough, many church going folk allow their children to partake in the annual recreation of this "event", even though celebration of anything Pagan is strictly forbidden by Christianity.

Also of note: The Christmas tree, which we use to decorate our homes during the second most "holy" day of the year, is actually an old Pagan fertility symbol. Does the placing of "gifts" around the tree represent an old practice of paying homage to the fertility God? It is also widely believed that the celebration of Christmas on the specific date of December 25 has nothing at all to do with the birth of Christ. Rather, it is believed that Dec. 25th was the most important Pagan holiday, and the Christians that designated the holiday believed it was easiest for the Pagans to remember that day when they tried to convert them to Christianity.....

Interesting things to digest. I'm sure that most people are completely oblivious to the Pagan connections to our holidays, and instead celebrate them the way they do because of the traditions that have been carried down through our families and such. I'm certainly not going to forgo the tree this year, or forbid my son to dress up to get some candy.

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