Still Waters Community Church

The CHRIST Culture Blog | October, 2020 | Rev. Dr. Carole Hulslander

This is the month for the world to turn to celebrate the “dark side.” The history of Halloween is not well known today so let me give you just a little from History.Com.

“Halloween’s origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago, mostly in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. During this Holiday there were Celtic priests giving comforting predictions for the future to help get the people through the long dark winter. Celts wore costumes with animal heads and skins and sat around fires burning crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities while hoping for nice warm fires during the winter months.”

By 1000AD the Church attempted to exchange this Celtic Holiday with a Christian one, so, “on May 13, 609 A.D., Pope Boniface IV dedicated the Pantheon in Rome in honor of all Christian martyrs, and the Catholic feast of All Martyrs Day was established in the Western church. Pope Gregory III later expanded the festival to include all saints as well as all martyrs and moved the observance from May 13 to November 1.”

Eventually the “Great Potato Famine,” of the 19th century caused many to leave Ireland and come to America and they brought with them many of their cultural ideologies and superstitions which became a part of the American culture.

Here at Still Waters Community Church and School, we believe that whatever can bring CHRIST JESUS glory, should be. In other words, we take ground and return it to our KING. It is obvious to us that having a party in the fall is a marvelous idea. Therefore, we took Halloween and turned it into to the Hallelujah Party and placed it at the feet of JESUS!

As you can see, the first step we took was to give this holiday a new name, "Hallelujah," which has been used for centuries. It is a combination of two Hebrew words “hallel” meaning praise and the second part "Jah" or "yah" which simply means the LORD, so it is rendered in English, PRAISE THE LORD! We then moved on to the costumes which many of us enjoy the most. We ask that everyone attending please refrain from wearing costumes that might scare young children or give attention to evil. We have games, great food, music, and dancing. We have booths with face painting and many other crafts and fun. We also have a costume contest! This is just one example of taking human culture and laying it at the feet of CHRIST JESUS; taking a territory of the world and bringing it into HIS Kingdom, CHRIST culture!