Halloween ordinarily elicits images of death, ghosts and spirits. We read about old heathen Hallowe’en customs of the West European Druid Celts, ‘barbarians’, etc…on All Hallows’ Eve or All Saints’ Eve.
CBN: What Are the Pagan Roots of Halloween? “Halloween itself originated in paganism. The Celtic Festival of Samhain [Sáhwin] was observed on October 31 [or Nov 1, Celtic days began at sunset]. The souls of the dead were said to revisit their homes on this day and the festival acquired sinister significance, with ghosts, witches, goblins, black cats, fairies and demons said to be roaming about.”
Samhain is called the Witches’ New Year (celebrated by neo-pagans). It was a harvest festival which preluded the darker winter season. The word Samhain means ‘November’ on the Irish Gaelic calendar.
Encyclopaedia Brittanica: Halloween “People set bonfires on hilltops for relighting their hearth fires for winter and to frighten away evil spirits; and they sometimes wore masks and other disguises to avoid being recognized by the ghosts thought to be present.” This originated Halloween masks & costumes.
The Acronym: The Pagan Origins of Halloween “Celtic culture dates back to 1200 BCE. During the 3-day celebration, it was believed that the barrier between humans and otherworldly spirits was broken. Samhain was reframed as a Christian celebration to capitalize on the festival’s popularity, to help spread Christianity.” History.com: How the Early Church Christianized Halloween “Tricks were traditionally blamed on faeries. Token offerings of harvested food [were] offered the spirits to placate them. Children would play games to entertain the dead. Pope Gregory 1 [590–604 AD] advised that a missionary should simply convert them [old religious customs] to a Christian religious purpose.”
But Is.5:20 warns, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil”. De.18:10-12 NASB “There shall not be found among you anyone…who uses divination, who practices witchcraft, or a sorcerer. Whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord.” Witchcraft, etc. was an ‘abomination’ (KJV) in God’s eyes!
Wikipedia: Halloween “Irish and Scottish immigrants took many Halloween customs to North America in the 19th century. Halloween activities include trick or treat [olden threats], attending costume parties, carving pumpkins [or turnips] into jack-o-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, divination games, playing pranks, scary stories, watching horror films.” Facts.net: Halloween Facts “Halloween is the second highest-grossing commercial holiday, second only to Christmas in the U.S.” It’s very popular!
On our modern Gregorian calendar, Halloween occurs the night of Oct 31st. Wikipedia: All Souls’ Day “Also known as the Day of the Dead, a day of prayer and repentance for the faithful departed, observed by Roman Catholics and other Christian denominations annually on 2 Nov. The celebration is the last day of Allhallowtide, after All Saints’ Day (1 Nov) and Halloween (31 Oct).” Like Samhain, 3 days.
The rest of this topic takes an unconventional look at Halloween and a very ancient All Souls’ Day.
It involves ancient calendars. In 45 BC, Julius Caesar made January 1 the beginning of the calendar year (Julian calendar). However, very anciently the new year generally began around mid–September.
Much earlier…Armenians, Assyrians, Egyptians, Ethiopians, Hebrews began their year in late summer.
Old Assyrian Calendar Oxford Studies “The calendar of Upper Mesopotamian kingdom (Sámsi-Adád [1808–1776 BC]) started in August. Previous interpretations suggested a beginning of the Old Assyrian year the day of the autumnal equinox.” (Akítu harvest festivals were held at both equinoxes.)
egypttoday.com 2021 “September 11 marks the beginning of the Egyptian year within the first calendar in human history; one of the first calendars known to mankind. This year is the 6,263rd Egyptian year.” Thoth’s Calendar “Established in the reign of Pharaoh Shépseskaf [2500 BC?]. New Year’s Day fell on the first of the month of Thoth, around August 29.” Wikipedia: Thoth “The first month of the ancient Egyptian and Coptic calendars. It lies between 11 Sep and 10 Oct of the Gregorian calendar.” Wikipedia: Ethiopian Calendar “The New Year occurs on 11 September [Gregorian calendar].”
Let’s look at pertinent Biblical calendar background. Moses’ ancestry included Isaac, Noah, etc., and he was also raised by Pharaoh’s daughter, Ex.2:9-10. Ac.7:21-22 “Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians.” Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 2:10:1-2 Moses had been a general in the Egyptian army, warring against Cush/Ethiopia. Moses, an Egyptian name, knew when the Egyptian year began.
Moses noted, Ge.26:12 (Septúagint/LXX) “Isaac sowed in the Land and reaped in the same year barley 100-fold”. Circa 1900 BC. The time to sow barley & wheat in Israel is Nov–Dec; and then it’s reaped in Apr–June. For Isaac to sow and reap in the same year, their new year could’ve occurred near the autumn equinox. But the new year couldn’t have occurred in Jan or at the spring equinox in March, between the sowing and reaping cycle of Nov to June. Else Isaac would’ve reaped in the next year, not in the same year he sowed. Isaac’s father Abraham had purchased land in Canáan from Hittites (Ge.23:10-20). Ancient Calendars 5: Anatólia “Before the Late Bronze Age, the Hittite New Year came at the autumn equinox…Based on Akkádian documents from the Old Assyrian period.”
congdon ministries: Calendars of the Bible “At that time [of Moses, 1500s BC], peoples of Palestine, being agricultural, started their calendar systems in the early autumn, with the olive harvest. Likewise the Gezer/Egyptian calendar.” The 900s BC ‘Gezer calendar’ tablet, found 20 mi. west of Jerusalem at the Philistine border, is one of the earliest Phoenícian or Paleo-Hebrew inscriptions discovered. Times of Israel: Rosh Hashánah and the Mystery of the Gezer Calendar “The name Tíshrei is taken from the Akkadian month name Tashritu, or the ‘Beginning’ month. The first month in the inscription, ‘Moons of Gathering (agricultural produce)’, would then refer to Tishrei (Sep-Oct) and Héshvan (Oct-Nov).”
The month Tishri began Israel’s civil or calendar year. Ex.23:16 the Feast of Ingathering/Booths at the full moon of Tishri occurred in early Oct “at the end of the year”. ref Ex.34:22. Le.25:9-10 “You shall sound the ram’s horn on the 10th day of the 7th month [Tishri], on the Day of Atonement [Yom Kíppur, in Hebrew].” The consecrated jubilee year was thus proclaimed in Israel on this 10th day of Tishri, in the early autumn. Ezk.40:1 “At the beginning of the year [Rosh Hashanah Strongs h7218 h8141, Hebrew] on the 10th of the month [Yom Kippur].” The annual High Holydays are Tishri 1-10.
{Sidelight: When the ancient Israelites were exiting Egypt, the Lord said to Moses in the early spring, Ex.12:1-2 “This shall be the beginning of months for you”. It was the time of the first Passover. In Ex.13:4 YHVH instructed Moses that their months (of the sacred year) were to begin then with Abíb the 1st month. (also called Nisán, Est.3:7 & Ne.2:1; ‘Nísanu’, Babylonian.) It follows that Siván would become the 3rd month, Tishri (also called Éthanim, 1Ki.8:2) the 7th month, Márcheshvan or Chéshvan or Heshvan the 8th month, etc., according to God’s sacred calendar. From the 1500s BC, at least two calendar reckonings were in effect simultaneously in ancient Israel. The month Abib (Nisan), which began near the spring/vernal equinox, became the 1st month of the year for future reckoning months, sacred festivals, and some king reigns. The 7th month Tishri, occurring near the autumn equinox Sep 20, was still the beginning month of the year for reckoning years, also jubilees and timing young unpicked or ‘uncircumcised’ trees (Le.19:23). Abib/Nisan began the festival year. New Years Day for ancient Israel remained at the month Tishri, according to the civil calendar (not the sacred calendar).}
The Jewish people celebrate the beginning of the (civil) year on Rosh Hashanah, the 1st day of Tishri on the new moon. It marked the “turn of the year” (Ex.34:22, 23:16). Pulpit Commentary “The old Hebrew year ended…in autumn.” Wikipedia: Rosh Hashanah Lit. “Head of the year’, the Jewish New Year, begins on the 1st day of Tishrei…the traditional anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve.”
Le.23:23-24 “The Lord spoke to Moses…‘On the 1st day of the 7th month [Tishri] you shall have a memorial by sounding [trumpets].” Here the Hebrew term for “memorial” was zikarrón, and for “sounding”, teruáh. New Year’s Day, Rosh Hashanah, is also known as: Yom Zikkaron, Day of Memorial…Yom Teruah, Day of Sounding (Trumpets)…Yom HaKéseh, Day of the Concealed Moon.
They acknowledged this Day of Memorial (1 Tishri) as the birthday of Adam. In the days of Isaac, Abraham, Noah’s Flood, and back to the Creation…the season of Tishri was the 1st month of the year. It began in late summer near the autumnal equinox (+/- 15 days).
2,000 years ago, Josephus identified the name of the month and time of year when Noah’s Flood began. op. cit. 1:3:3 “This calamity happened in the 600th year the of Noah’s age, in the 2nd month called by the Hebrews Marcheshvan; for so did they order their year in Egypt; but Moses appointed Nisan [Abib] should be the 1st month [of the year] for their festivals…although he preserved the original order of the months [the civil calendar year starting in Tishri] as to selling & buying and other ordinary affairs.”
Ge.7:11-13 “In the 2nd month, on the 17th day of the month” (Marcheshvan or Cheshvan or Heshvan) the Noachian Flood came. After the flood, Noah’s ark rested in the mountains of Armenia, and he planted a vineyard in the valleys (Ge.8:4, 9:20). Ancient Armenian Calendar “The new year started with the month Návasard (from Armenian ‘New Year’) on August 11 [pre-2000 BC].”
Jewish Encyclopedia: Flood, The “The rain lasted during the months of Heshwan and Kíslew [time of Hanukkah]; the waters increased in Tebét, Shebát, Adár, Nisan, Iyár [spring]….The Hebrew year originally began in the fall.” 1200 AD Jewish philosopher Maimónides, “The beginning of our years is in Tishrei”. And the month of Cheshvan still begins around Oct 15 on today’s Hebrew calendar. (Long after Noah, Israel’s sacred calendar originated at Ex.12:2; then Cheshvan became the 8th month.)
eyeopeningtruth.com “Chesvan is called the month of bool [1Ki.6:38 Bul], a name that stems from the word for ‘flood’. The flood began on the 17th of Chesvan.” Rabbi Ari Goldberg The Bitter Month “Chesvan is when darkness reigns, yet growth begins beneath the surface. Chesvan is classically referred to as Marchesvan. ‘mar’ [Strongs h4751] in Hebrew means ‘bitter’. The flood began on the 17th of Chesvan.” Bitter Chesvan. Frederick A. Filby The Flood Reconsidered, p.106-108 “The old world perished in November. In ancient Assyria the ceremonies for the souls of the dead were in the month Arahsamna, which is Marcheswan.”
Pagan customs surround Halloween. Sir James Frazier associated All Souls’ Day, the ancient Egyptian Festival of the Dead, with Nov 1st in Adonis, Osiris, Attis. “The custom was observed throughout the whole of Egypt, and is referred by Heródotus as prevailing in the 5th century BC.” Nov 1st falls in the month of Cheshvan or Marcheshvan or Heshvan in mid-autumn, according to the Hebrew calendar.
Some think the Deluge actually began on that day, November 1st! Again, for many ancient peoples, the new year began in mid-Sep. For the 17th day of the ancients’ 2nd month to fall on Nov 1 according to our modern calendar, the 1st day of the ancients’ 1st month would’ve been near September 15. D. Davidson wrote, “The day generally celebrated throughout the world, in ancient and modern times, as the anniversary of the Catastrophe [Flood], is 1st November, with variations generally from 31st October to 2nd November.” My desk calendar says the date Nov 2nd is the Day of the Dead!
There is Old Testament evidence that the Jews memorialized and observed days of catastrophes. Zec.8:19 “The fast of the 4th, the fast of the 5th, the 7th, the 10th months [sacred calendar].” According to this verse, traditional fast days were instituted to remember four national afflictions. In the 4th month (on 17 Támmuz) Nebuchadnézzar took Jerusalem (Je.39:1-2). In the 5th month (on 9th -10th of Av) the temples of Solomon (Je.52:12-13) and Herod (Mk.13:1-2) were destroyed, 650 years apart. The 2nd day of the 7th month was traditionally the date governor Gedaliáh was murdered (2Ki.25:25). The 10th day of the 10th month was the siege of Jerusalem in 588 BC (Je.52:4, 39:1). Again, since the 1500s BC, Hebrew months are reckoned from the spring Nisan/Abib. (But years are still reckoned from Tishri.)
It seems the Jews didn’t view those national catastrophes as Divine Judgments, which could lead the people to national repentance. Instead, they memorialized the national calamities and annually observed the dates on which they’d occurred (all too often without repentance)!
And it’s not only the Jewish people who memorialize catastrophes. (Noah wasn’t Jewish.) e.g. every Aug 6th (‘A-Bomb Day’) the Japanese city of Hiróshima holds the Peace Memorial Ceremony. In New York City, the 9/11 Ground Zero Memorial is now where the World Trade Center buildings once stood. And our Memorial Day holiday in late May remembers those who died in military service.
The dates appear to coincide to make All Souls’ Day the memorialization of an earlier great catastrophe…that rainy day when all souls died! Nov 2nd is the Day of the Dead! Perhaps the old Halloween custom of bobbing for apples represents a very ancient gruesome reality?!
biblestudy.org: The True Origin of Halloween “It is entirely possible that the origin of the holiday is a perverted memorial to the people put to death in Noah’s Flood.” Pastor Bradford Winship The Origins of Halloween and Noah’s Flood “October 31st Halloween, meaning hallowed or sacred evening, is the day Noah boarded the ark and the great flood came. Taken as the devil’s holiday, but the day actually belongs to God.” Yet there’s no record that Noah, Moses, or other patriarchs annually wore masks & costumes to hide their identity or scare away evil spirits! I’m not endorsing Halloween observance!
{{Sidelight: A minority view thinks Noah’s Flood occurred in Iyar, the 2nd month of Israel’s sacred calendar. But that calendar didn’t exist prior to 1600 BC, in the time of Genesis. Ge.7:11 & 8:3-4 the Flood lasted for 5 months, exactly 150 days. But there’s only 147 or 148 days between the 2nd and 7th months on Israel’s later sacred calendar! The historical sources Moses used for Genesis had a different calendar reckoning. For evidence of an older new year, ref: Ex.23:16, 34:22; Le.25:9-10; Ezk.40:1-ff at the “beginning of the year” Ezekiel saw his grandest vision while fasting on Yom Kippur!}}
History does have a way of repeating itself. e.g. the destruction of both Temples and a few other historical calamities which befell the Jewish people are said to have happened on the 9th of Av!
To conclude…After the Flood, God made a covenant with Noah and the living creatures. Ge.9:9-17 God promised, “All flesh will never again be cut off by the water of a flood. This is the sign of the covenant; I will set my bow in the cloud, and I will look upon it to remember the everlasting covenant.”
God was as a warrior who came in judgment in the days of Noah. God’s bow imagery also symbolizes His mighty power. (ref “bow” in Hab.3:9-10, Lam.2:4, Re.6:2, De.32:23). Yet in Ge.9 His weapon was set aside unstrung in the clouds, representing peace. JFB Commentary Ge.9:13 “A bow unstrung, or without a string, is a proper symbol of peace and friendship.”
The apostle Paul wrote in Ro.3:23, “All have sinned”. Also Ro.6:23a “The wages of sin is death.” Since the Garden of Eden, the result of sin has been death for all humanity (Ge.2:16, 3:19; Ro.5:12).
Regardless of the exact calendar day the Flood began, historically Halloween commemorates death.
We’ve all seen rainbows as they’ve occasionally appeared through the clouds. But as Christians, we pursue the spiritual ‘pot of gold’ at the end of the rainbow! Ro.6:23b “The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Eternal life is our gift and our future through Jesus! Thank You, Lord!
Bible Topic Exposition 