Do We Celebrate Reformation…or Hallowe’en?

» celticbear - Halloween vs Reformation Day

It should be remembered that Halloween is a survival of Celtic paganism which survived the Celtic church and the Romanisation of the 19th Century Church in Ireland. It is, of course, the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced Sau (as in sauerkraut)- in, when both this and the next world intermingled and the spirits of the departed went abroad. This tradition travelled to North America with the emigrant Irish and has now returned to Western Europe in disguised fashion. Turning Samhain into All Hallows Eve and All Souls Day was but another clever adaptation by Catholicism of preexisting folk customs and beliefs to fit into the new dispensation.

As a cultural Catholic I have no difficulty in Lutherans celebrating Reformation Day. The Reformation was a very necessary thing even if the downside was the unnecessary death of multitudes and the poisoning of a continent. In Western Europe today a belated reformation is taking place within Catholicism (Cf. Ireland) where nominal catholics are becoming protestant in outlook and behaviour (i.e. primacy of conscience - rejection of legalism and mediators) whilst others retreat into a 'no nothing' rejection of modern realities and a hard-line orthodoxy. I suspect that this may also be case in the USA.

Both Halloween and Reformation Day have ancient and respectable pedigrees. Providing they are used to reflect on past necessities (particularly in regard to Reformation Day) and not as triumphalist reminders of darker days or incitements to sectarianism or intolerance there is no good reason to stop commemorating these important events in our collective past.

-- posted by celticbear

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