Everyone ready for Samhain?

As some of you may know, I spent my childhood moving around a lot, and, consequently, I have lived in several different parts of the country. Every place I lived there were always a few who objected to the celebration of Halloween, but for the most part, they were in the minority. Now I live in Georgia, however, and a sizable percentage of the population objects to celebration of Halloween. Due the pressure of evangelical Christians, schools here often celebrate a Fall festival or harvest festival in place of Halloween. They consider it inappropriate for children to be celebrating Halloween in school.

I have thought long and hard about this issue, and I have to say that I completely agree. As every student of history knows, Halloween is Christianity's attempt to co opt a proud and ancient pagan celebration, Samhain. Saimhain is a celebration of the conclusion of the summer harvest, and was marked by communing with the dead and human sacrifice. In the middle ages, the Roman Catholic church tried to squash celebration of Samhain, which it considered heretical, by dropping All Saints Day on top of it. That way one could pray and worship dead saints rather than other non-saint dead people. The name Halloween itself is a contraction of All Hallows Eve, the day before the hallowed day of All Saints Day.

It seems that Halloween has drifted from its roots in Saimhain, and I applaud conservative Christianity's staunch support of tradition. By advocating the return of the harvest festival, they may be taking an unpopular stance, but I admire their conviction. Not many would actively support human sacrifice and necromancy these days, but just because it isn't popular doesn't mean it isn't right!

So join with me and the evangelical Christian community in reviving the harvest festival, Samhain. All hail Samhain, lord of the dead! We will sacrifice many a pagan soul to you this Halloween!