A Prayer for All Hallow’s Eve, Halloween, Samhain

From ghoulies and ghosties
And long-leggedy beasties
And things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord, deliver us!1

In our modern culture in the West, or most of it, this night is known as Halloween, and it is largely a harmless time of dressing up and getting candy—all pushed by commercial culture. Connected with it is ideas of witches, pumpkins, hobgoblins, and ghosts. Some Christians even pronounce it ‘pagan’ and based on demons and evil. Modern day ‘pagans’ (or wicks) have adopted it and often use it to celebrate non-Jewish/Islamic/Christian religion. Though many argue that this is based on ancient beliefs, especially pre-Christian Celtic ‘religion,’ we don’t possess much information about those practices. The Celtic Druids did not write anything down.

However, most of us in the Western world only encounter kids in costumes, or adult costume parties, that have no connection to spirituality at all. It is merely a reason for a social outing.

But I am interested in history, and in reviving old traditions if they prove spiritually helpful. The original day was a Celtic festival practiced in Scotland, Ireland, and many other lands. It was called Samhain, and it was the end of the old agricultural year and the beginning of the new one, summer was over and winter was beginning. As you can imagine, for cultures that were dependent on the agricultural year (unlike most of us moderns), this was a crucial time. Animals were brought in from pasture, the surplus were slaughtered for meat during the winter. The harvest had ended, so preparation of food to last through the winter was also part of this.

The Celts believed that the spiritual world and the physical world were closely connected. Ancient Jewish people and early Christians seemed to have thought so, too, though many of us modern believers seem to have adopted a more secular view of a strict boundary. Still, most think that God can intervene in the physical world if he chose to—even today. But the Celts thought it was more than that. Certain times of the year were “thin” times, where the boundary between the physical and the spiritual was almost nonexistent. The boundary between summer and winter, spring and fall, the end of a day and the beginning of the next—all of these times were “thin” times. Samhain (Halloween) was one of these times as the world transitioned from one season to the next. So, in addition to the importance of the end of the harvest and pasturing season, this was also a time where it was possible to cross over or at least communicate with the Other World. This led the people to often leave out treats—food—in case their ancestors happened by. There were also fires or talisman to keep away any of the dearly beloved who might be a bit angry at you.

When Christianity came to the Celtic lands, these beliefs about the spiritual world were very easy to understand in Christian terms. God was close by. Jesus had ‘crossed over’ from the Other World to this world in a thin time. The dearly departed could be honored, because they were with God in the Other World. So November 1 became “All Saints’ Day”—a slight shift in theology as a day to honor those believers who had died and were with God. The night before became All Saints Eve, or All Hallow’s Eve (eventually evolving into “Hallo’eve” and then “halloween”). While some might say this is a “Christianizing” of a pagan festival and therefore a bad thing, I would suggest it is the opposite. After all, when we bring someone to the faith, are they not “Christianized” in a manner of speaking. The ancient Christian missionary (like St. Patrick) who brought Christianity to the Celts saw the people they converted as having a sense of the spiritual, but they were simply mistaken in some of their ideas about how it all worked and who God was. So they taught them properly and enabled them to practice and think about their festivals in God’s terms. God is the one who created the seasons, and the harvest, and the animals. It should be celebrated from that point of view.

Some churches today use this evening as a time to put up pictures of their members who have died in the last year and remember them, thank God for their lives, and pray. Other churches hold their own “Halloween” with games and candy and such (which seems less connected to Christian history to me, but that is my preference). Many churches hold prayer vigils and engage in fasting and prayer, and some visit the burial sites of loved ones or church leaders.

In any case, if you wish to celebrate a change of seasons as part of God’s creation and connected with Christian history and practice, try the prayer below, or simply pray and thank God for those you have known who have left this life.

Father,
All-Powerful and Ever-Living God,
Today we rejoice
in the holy men and women
of every time and place
May their prayers
bring us your forgiveness and love
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.2

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1. An old Scottish prayer, origin unknown↩

2. The Liturgy of the Hours ↩