Halloween has changed drastically over the years. Originally a Celtic New Year celebration, it has morphed into a holiday with evil overtones. Many equate the community’s benevolent celebration with a celebration of evil or “devil worship.”
It is for this reason that many religious people question whether they should celebrate the holiday. While it’s unwise to generalize and assume the opinion of one for that expressed by the whole as a group, let’s take a look at each religion’s point of view on Halloween.
(Not all adherents of each faith prescribe the opinions listed, but these are general findings of opinion for each religion. Also, this is a limited selection of the large number of religions found throughout the world. Many religions have little or no connection with the holidays at all.)
Islam:
Devout followers of Islam do not celebrate Halloween because it is prohibited in the Qur’an to celebrate non-Muslim holidays. A quote from Islam.com further explains: “…In addition, it symbolizes the beginning of the ancient Druid New Year, which holds that the dead return to visit their homes at that time, so in essence, Halloween represents the celebration of the New Year of the devil-worshippers . . . “
From the Islamic point of view, Halloween is one of the worst celebrations, due to its pagan origin. It is clearly prohibited for a Muslim to participate in a Halloween celebration.
Judaism:
Those of the Jewish faith do not celebrate Halloween for the same reason that Muslims do not: it is forbidden in their faith to celebrate a non-Jewish holiday. Halloween’s Celtic roots and Christian connection (All Saints’ Day), Jews do not consider it a non-sectarian holiday.
However, the Jews celebrate a holiday that is similar in holidays. The holiday is Purim and commemorates a time when the Jews living in Persia were saved from extermination. The celebration of this holiday involves costumes and sweets.
Christendom:
Christians vary in opinion on this issue, from evangelists who condemn anything to do with religion, to those who welcome it as an opportunity to spread messages of faith to trick-or-treaters, and also to those who infer that the holiday was started by Christians.
Most devout Christians forbid the celebration of Halloween, due to the belief that its origin stems from paganism and devil worship.
Some Christians believe that the holiday has Christian roots, referring to All Hallows’ Eve or “All Saints’ Day” which occurs on November 1 and celebrates the dead in heaven and purgatory. It became customary on All Hallows’ Eve to bang on pots and pans so that the dead would know that the damned knew they had not been forgotten.
satanists:
Religious Satanists do not assign any meaning to Halloween. The holiday is NOT satanic in origin, and satanists certainly do not practice any kind of sacrifice on Halloween (nor is animal sacrifice an accepted practice of any organized satanic group).
wiccans:
For Wiccans, Halloween represents the New Year, a time for reflection and celebration. New life is welcomed while the dead are remembered. It is believed that the veil between the spiritual and material worlds is thinnest at this time of year.
Halloween is one of the eight Sabbats (or seasonal holidays) that Wiccans celebrate. Samhain, as Wiccans call it, symbolizes the transition or death of the ancient Great Horn God (not to be confused with the Christian idea of Satan), the masculine energy of the Divine. It also celebrates the aging of the Goddess, the feminine energy of the Divine.
Buddhism:
The Celtic priests, or druids, who originally celebrated the holiday shared the Buddhist belief in rebirth and the indestructibility of the mind. There are correspondences between the traditional Celtic celebration of Halloween and the Buddhist concept of “Bard”.
Halloween symbolizes the entrance of the spirit separated from the spiritual world into the material world. Bardo is the concept of consciousness experiencing apparitions (ghosts, demons, etc.). If the mind recognizes these apparitions as false hallucinations, liberation is possible.
Religious stances range from supportive and celebrating to ignorant and condemning and anywhere in between when it comes to Halloween. In the end, it depends on the individual and his personal beliefs and feelings.