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You have a wicked sense of humor Mr. LargeKingCat, that's why I love you ha-ha. if you dress as the devil, can I dress as The Witch of Endor? She was a prominent figure in the bible too!
Generally speaking in Christian fundamentalism (especially, but not exclusively, among pentecostals / charismatics) there's a lot of fear and loathing around anything seen as macabre or having the wrong symbolism. Ghosts and witches and such are seen as symbols of evil and to "celebrate", "enjoy" or even "condone" such things by failing to sufficiently oppose them is to open yourself to demonic oppression. In many cases, it seemed to me that their fear of the devil greatly exceeds their faith in god.
These sects tend to see everything in terms of a titanic battle between good and evil, just beneath the surface of reality. Some of this comes from a certain interpretation of the apostle Paul's assertion that "we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against spiritual wickedness in high places". This has come to be termed "spiritual warfare". Some sects take it to the level, ironically, of issuing commands to imagined evil spirits, "breaking" spiritual bondage, "cleansing" living spaces where supposedly the devil has been "given place" and the like -- not unlike the spells you speak of in witchcraft!
Some of the churches when I came of age in that movement (1970s) had "harvest festivals" and other alternative celebrations and social events with "wholesome" activities like dunking for apples. In some cases church-folk would serve candy to the little ones out of the trunks of their cars in the church parking lot -- the better to "protect" them from the scary outside world, which was never more tangibly scary to them than on Halloween.
As you can imagine, this kind of thinking causes an "us vs them" mentality to flourish: the godly against the wicked, the churchgoing against "the unchurched", the proper against the improper, pious vs the impious and so on.
You can also view this more generically as an aversion to what psychologists call "the shadow", the part of ourselves that we loathe and deny. It causes people to be ashamed and to wall off parts of themselves and encourage others to do so as well.
very nice article you wrote mordant, thanks for sharing your wisdom! Hugs!!!
...Here is a brief explanation and why I got confused about Puritans, Pilgrims in the area at the time I spoke about. The Puritans I was told about in New England were not separatist from the Church of England so they should be very familiar with the customs of All Hallows Day and All Hallows Eve. Even though they "had allegiance" to the Roman Church of England they certainly didn't act like they did and secretly felt that this entire holiday period was Satanic in principle. Since they had allegiance to the Catholic Roman Church of England at the time, I just assumed that they followed Catholicism, but Halloween was not only Satanic to them, the entire few days of Hallows Day and day of the dead was Satanic because it dealt with macabre subjects of Spiritism.
I have read a few documents on the life of Puritans, they had huge issues with the celebration of Chirstmas too. The public drunkenness, displays of merriment, frivolity, and cheer.
It's All Hallows' Eve. the Eve of All Saints' Day.
It got morphed and ruined and commercialized.
On the church calendar, the day before All Saints is ALL SOULS. In Mexico and maybe elsewhere, they call it the Day of the Dead.
And in the CHURCH, All Souls Day has in some places been stretched and manipulated into a special, lovely, super-dooper day for Masses and "Indulgences." Instant release for souls in Purgatory.
But... what's Purgatory??? (ORK!)
Edit:
OK, my mistake: I screwed up the date. ALL SOULS' Day is Nov. 2, after All Saints.
************************ The medieval Feast of Fools. All Hallow's Eve.
"The medieval Feast of Fools, from which he has taken his title, symbolizes both the problem and the process. Centuries ago it provided an opportunity for the choirboy to play bishop and for serious townsfolk to mock the stately rituals of church and court. The eventual disappearance of the custom in the sixteenth century, unlamented if not welcomed by those in authority, illustrates the concerns of this provocative and controversial essay. Cox does not propose that a medieval practice should be revived, but he does argue for a rebirth in our own cultural idiom of what was right and good about the Feast of Fools."
HARVEY COX: https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog....=9780674285002
I have read a few documents on the life of Puritans, they had huge issues with the celebration of Chirstmas too. The public drunkenness, displays of merriment, frivolity, and cheer.
I have read a few documents on the life of Puritans, they had huge issues with the celebration of Chirstmas too. The public drunkenness, displays of merriment, frivolity, and cheer.
Again, ANY Holiday, as they considered them all Roman in origin.
My friend's kids went to a Catholic school, and instead of a Halloween party, they did an All Saints Day party and the kids had to dress as a specific saint.
For my kids' Catholic school's Halloween party, the first graders dressed as a specific saint. It was a cute tradition.
Quote:
Originally Posted by High.priestess.Sarah
The Puritans I was told about in New England were not separatist from the Church of England so they should be very familiar with the customs of All Hallows Day and All Hallows Eve.
Even though they "had allegiance" to the Roman Church of England they certainly didn't act like they did and secretly felt that this entire holiday period was Satanic in principle. Since they had allegiance to the Catholic Roman Church of England at the time, I just assumed that they followed Catholicism, but Halloween was not only Satanic to them, the entire few days of Hallows Day and day of the dead was Satanic because it dealt with macabre subjects of Spiritism.
The Puritans supported Oliver Cromwell in England's Civil War. Once in power, Cromwell executed of Charles I - for his Catholic wife. He hated Catholicism that much. Anyway, almost all Puritan left England after the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 - for the Netherlands before New England.
Quote:
Puritans eliminated choral music and musical instruments in their religious services because these were associated with Roman Catholicism; however, singing the Psalms was considered appropriate (see Exclusive psalmody). Church organs were commonly damaged or destroyed in the Civil War period, such as when an axe was taken to the organ of Worcester Cathedral in 1642.
On the cold morning of 21st December 1643, a group of men marched into the ornate chapel of Peterhouse, the oldest university college in Cambridge.
In the presence of the college’s president, fellows and other dignitaries, they began to smash, pull down, and deface religious imagery on the walls and pews. Statues of two large winged angels and four saints were brought down, stained glass was smashed, an image of St Peter on the chapel door was removed along with those of about a hundred cherubim and angels, while bible passages illuminated in gold letters were erased.
But this was not sudden mob violence or a secular attack on the church. It was an official and systematic purging of ‘idolatry’ in one of the key centres of Christian study in England.
And watching over all of it was a man called William Dowsing - A Puritan.
From late 1643 to 1644, armed with a commission from the Parliamentarian general and Peer, the Earl of Manchester, this previously-unknown yeoman farmer visited some 250 university colleges and parish churches in Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, stripping them of religious pictures, crosses, crucifixes, stained glass, monumental brasses, and altar rails – anything that could be construed as encouraging Roman Catholicism, ’religious idolatry’, or the worship of physical objects.
The Church of England was not Catholic. It was the Protestant Church established by King Henry VIII to divorce Catherine of Aragon of Spain. The Catholic land/convents/monasteries were redistributed to King Henry VIII's supporters.
Last edited by YorktownGal; 10-15-2023 at 09:12 AM..
I have read a few documents on the life of Puritans, they had huge issues with the celebration of Chirstmas too. The public drunkenness, displays of merriment, frivolity, and cheer.
Christmas was illegal for a time in the puritan colony of Massachusetts. There are a few sects of Christianity today, such as almost all of the Church of Christ and the Jehovah's Witness who do not observe or celebrate Christmas
This make me glad, again, that we do not live in a theocracy, because in America we can celebrate ANY holiday we want.
When I was 5 years old we did have a Halloween party at our church, there was a haunted house and everyone wore costumes. The next year on, no such thing and no mention of Halloween. Never told not to celebrate it, until High School when the local JayCee's rented a vacant house and turned it into their Halloween fund raiser We were told by multiple church people NOT To go, I was in high school and went anyway and I am so glad that I did, because the whole event was scary, well done, and I learned so much about making a good haunted house that I still make one every Halloween Night for the neighbors.
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