Here we are at that time of year, again. Halloween; the gateway to the holidays, actually. This weekend many will celebrate that notorious and ancient, pagan, holiday. All of you are totally able to do research on your own so I will be brief and to the point.

The origin of Halloween dates back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. Samhain is a pagan, religious festival celebrating death and the interaction with the denizens of the otherworld. The Celts, who lived over 2,000 years ago in what we call Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Northern France, celebrated their “new year” on Nov. 1 with the festival of Samhain.

The holiday is still Samhain, by the way.

The practice of Halloween used to be so much simpler. Children dressed up in various costumes, excitedly running from door to door seeking candy treats. Bobbing for apples ... that sort of activity.

We all love seeing our little tots dressed up and excited to do the “trick or treat” event. I can think of nothing cuter than that, and it is fun for parents to dress up with them. 

But, like all events, it’s gotten way out of hand.

In the ’70s and ’80s, the celebration of Halloween began to pick up momentum. Costumes became more grotesque. OK, so not all of them were overdone, but due to new rubber face forms, and mask engineering, the faces were pretty over the top. Blood and guts, weapons and agonized faces ...

Popular Hollywood movies about Halloween: “Halloween Kills,” “The Witch,” Beetlejuice,” “Candyman” and what they considered comedies about Halloween “Scream 1 & 2,” “Little Shop of Horrors,” “The Conjuring” and “Rosemary’s Baby” became the visual food fare for the connoisseurs of horror.

Gradually, festive gatherings, donning costumes, eating treats, and carving jack-o-lanterns evolved in many areas to coven meetings, calling on the spirits, and attempts to communicate with the dead. 

Christians are acutely aware that we are in a world of spiritual beings. Man is body, soul, and spirit. Jesus Christ came to defeat Satan, and to redeem us from Satan’s curse. God is a Spirit, and His angels are a part of the spiritual world ... and Satan and his minions are spirits as well. Spiritual powers and demonic beings are a reality.

Because the practice of “Samhain” was so widespread, Pope Gregory III (in the 700s AD) wanted to please everybody so he designated Nov. 1 as a time to honor all saints and the church calendar marked “All Saints Day” on Nov. 1. Samhain had been in popular practice for centuries. 

Sounds like a political maneuver to me.

I don’t want to burst anyone’s bubble, but I want to remind some who don’t know what Halloween really is. It seems that we all just “go along” with it all, assuming that after all, it’s just fun, and we want to give the kids a good time.

However, are we teaching them to practice something that we might not support at this stage of history? 

What do we do with this information? And whom are we honoring in this holiday? Nobody? Somebody? I understand how difficult it is to evaluate and ponder this information. Certainly, being informed makes us aware ... 

Judi Tabler lives in Pawnee County and is a guest columnist for the Great Bend Tribune. She can be reached at juditabler@gmail.com.