Happy Last Day of October!

Tonight, I will be visited by one of two entities:

1. The Great Pumpkin
2. The ghost of Martin Luther

Either way, I get presents.

In honor of Halloween and Reformation Day, here are a few old posts from years past.

First, for those curious about Halloween, here's my take on the controversial holiday.

But, since today is not just Halloween, but also the anniversary of Martin Luther's 95 Theses.
For those who are completely unfamiliar with the history behind Martin Luther, I wrote a brief post a few years back concerning the event.

The traditions and teachings of Luther, though, are alive and well today, and influence most western Christians. While I am not Lutheran, nor would I ever dare to consider myself a great theologian, I cannot deny the importance of Lutheran thought in my own writings. Below are several posts I have written throughout the past two and a half years that demonstrate Luther's legacy.
Sobald der Gülden im Becken klingt / im huy die Seel im Himmel springt
"I am Yours. Save me."
"...of whom I am the worst."
Sin Boldly (But Believe in Christ More Boldly Still): Thoughts on Evangelism
The Simple Beauty of Salvation

Luther was known for his wicked sense of humor. And just because I can, I proudly present "I Got 95 Theses, but the Pope Aint One"


Rock on.

Hat tip for the video: Locusts and Honey

All Hallows' Eve

All Hallows' Eve, or Halloween as it is commonly known, is a day of remembrance. It is not the devil's birthday (I don't know where that rubbish came about) nor is it a harvest festival (We already have one. We call it Thanksgiving). Many churches boycott this holiday, saying that it has pagan roots. Yes. Yes it does.

The Celts of the British Aisles celebrated a day they called Samhain on what is now known as October 31 (they used a solar calendar, so the date is pretty exact). It was the day on which the god of the dead ushered those who had died over the past year (you see, it is also their equivalent to New Year's Eve) to the realm of the dead (The seasons of autumn/winter coincide with this. Make sense?). As part of this celebration, many of our modern Halloween traditions (costumes, gourds with lit interiors) get their start.

To combat this, the Church created it's own celebration to commemorate all saints on November 1 (All Hallow's Day, or All Saint's Day). The day before is, of course, All Hallow's Eve. So, yes, churches, it does have pagan roots. But so do Christmas (Why else would the celebration be in the winter? It was originally the Celitc celebration of the solstice.) and Easter (The Jews use a lunar calendar. Easter doesn't even always follow Passover. The timing coincides with the Celtic celebration of rebirth and Spring. They call it Ostara.)

Interestingly enough, one of the most important holidays of the Church (Easter) and one of the most shunned (Halloween) are nothing more than the life cycle celebrated by the Celts (Life and Death, Fall and Spring).

So what about celebrating these holidays? I firmly believe in remembering the dead. Do I need a special holiday to do that? No. But I have no objection to setting aside November 1 to be thankful for the believers who came before me. Christmas and Easter? Remember the birth and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ always. Do you need a special holiday? Again, no. But does it hurt to lay aside one day of the year?*

Now the economic take over of these holdiays is something different. Trick or treat? The Easter bunny (a Celtic tradition as well)? These are pointless, but fun.

As for churches? Harvest Fests (or, as at certain military posts, the Halelujah Fest)? You're not fooling anyone. By wearing costumes and carving pumpkins, you're avoiding the Christian aspect of the holiday and embracing the pagan roots (Irony, thy name is fundamentalism).

Rock on.

Edit: *Oddly enough, Christmas and the feast day of Saint John the Baptist fall on or near the equinoxes, two other major pagan holidays, to symbolize John's saying of the Christ, "He must increase, but I must decrease." (John 3:30) Just so, light begins to decrease on John's feast day, and increase just before the mass of Christ's birth.