Halloween is actually a short variation for All Hallows Evening. All Hallows Evening began in Europe. It was originally a day for pagan festivals that marked the beginning of harvest. At the festival the Celts would celebrate pagan spiritual personalities like witches, ghouls, warlocks, trolls, goblins and demon spirits.
“And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.” (Isaiah 19:3).
The Celts also believed that this was also a day when the worlds of the living and the dead came together. The power of the underworld is said to have been released into the world on this night. It was the “devil’s night”. They believed that demon spirits would come out the night of the harvest celebration to cause trouble and even damage their crops. They would leave sweet treats out in the fields for the spirits hoping this would keep the spirits from destroying their crops.
They would light candles and carve out fiendish looking lanterns in large vegetables and place them around their houses in order to scare off “bad” spirits from their homes. They would dress up in costumes often using the hides of animals that were killed in sacrifices to Celtic idols. They believed that the costumes would fool or trick the evil spirits.
“This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24)
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