Spooky season is here! Since it is time for (Holy) Ghost Stories, we’re having casual talk about Demon Hunters (the K-Pop kind) and a little about weather Christian should celebrate Halloween (the Hallowed-Evening, anyone?) 

We’re having fun talking about Christian moms and other cultural topics this October. 

Regarding Halloween and Samhain (pronounced sow-een), the earliest written sources date around the 9th century onward, which All Saint’s Day has early Christian roots from the 2nd Century forward, until it fairly landed on it’s October-November date in the 700’s. There is much talk about pre-christian celebration of the Samhain festival, but it is based off speculation of oral-tradion recorded much later at a date, which is why we figure that the practically universally celebrated turning-of-the-season festivals celebrated by most cultures is simply something we have to consider. 

That Christians would celebrate at this time is not co-opting a pagan holiday, it is simply a time of year where celebrating and remembrance happens, and Christian’s have culture and celebrations as well! So, let’s celebrate! Honor God and remember the faithful heroes of the past. Eat food and have friends over! 

Side note - the audio exported strangely this time around, so we apologize for that as we hammer out our technical stuff! Captions are provided in our video versions of this episode.

READ FURTHER:

• “All Saints Day,” Cross, F. L., and Elizabeth A. Livingstone, eds. 2005. In The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd ed. rev. Oxford;  New York: Oxford University Press.
• “Samhain,” Hillary Smith, World History Encyclopedia
• Langgärtner, Georg. 1999–2003. “All Saints’ Day.” In The Encyclopedia of Christianity. Grand Rapids, MI; Leiden, Netherlands: Wm. B. Eerdmans; Brill.

BIBLE READING SUGGESTIONS:

• Colossians 2:16-17 - Paul’s thought on the freedoms to celebrate
• Romans 14 on matters of conscience and integrity
• 1 Corinthians 10 on freedoms, idolatry, and glorifying God