I guess I can ask this since I am a Baptist..

[Lik3]

Why do some Christians celebrate Christmas and Easter, but diss Halloween? All three holidays have some pagan roots, so why?

 

[Bluerose31]

Why do some Christians celebrate Christmas and Easter, but diss Halloween? All three holidays have some pagan roots, so why?

I think it is because with Halloween people dress up in terrifying costumes sometimes which Christians especially don't like. There is alot of blood and gore outfits people wear for Halloween. I feel if the costumes did not show blood and gore then Christians would feel better about Halloween. Christians sometimes celebrate "Harvest Fest" which is more about pumpkins, autumn foods and not so focused on the scary part of Halloween.

 

[anna ~ grace]

Only the name "Easter" is pre-Christian. The holy day isn't. In other languages, the day is named for the Passover ( Pasquale, Pakwa, Pasqua...)

Christmas, it's Traditional, and we can certainly choose to keep the focus on Christ.

Halloween, though, is just blatantly, clearly a celebration of death, fear, evil, spirits, monsters, cruelty (torture and torment as "fun"), and darkness.

 

[Dave-W]

If you take away the pagan names and practices in all 3 days, what are you actually left with to celebrate?

Christmas => the birth of our Lord. ( a good thing)
Easter => our Lord's resurrection from the dead (also a good thing)

Halloween => nothing left. (but bad things)

 

[98cwitr]

Why do some Christians celebrate Christmas and Easter, but diss Halloween? All three holidays have some pagan roots, so why?

Tradition. There's zero evidence that Christ was born in December. Actual evidence suggests He was born in spring. Same with Easter.

The real question is why do the traditions exist, and the answer to that is that the early church wished to assimilate pagans into Christendom, and their tactic in doing so was to merge Christ into their pagan holidays.

Halloween, or All Hallows Eve, actually celebrates All Saint's Day (November 1). Originally a Gaelic pagan holiday, the church also decided, just like Christmas and Easter, to assimilate this holiday into one of it's own. So if you don't like the idea of celebrating the Saints of the past, then don't celebrate Halloween. Otherwise, it's just a fun holiday in which kids get to play dress up and eat copious amounts of sweets.

The Christian Church traditionally observed Hallowe'en through a vigil. Worshippers prepared themselves for feasting on the following All Saints' Day with prayers and fasting.[173] This church service is known as the Vigil of All Hallows or the Vigil of All Saints;[174][175] an initiative known as Night of Light seeks to further spread the Vigil of All Hallows throughout Christendom.[176][177] After the service, "suitable festivities and entertainments" often follow, as well as a visit to the graveyard or cemetery, where flowers and candles are often placed in preparation for All Hallows' Day.[178][179] In Finland, because so many people visit the cemeteries on All Hallows' Eve to light votive candlesthere, they "are known as valomeri, or seas of light".[180]

Halloween - Wikipedia

 

[DeaconDean]

History tells us that just prior to Christians being recognized as a legitimate religion in Rome, most Romans had a traditional "sun" worship holiday. In which all people were required to observe.

Tradition says that to avoid persecution from the Romans, Christians started to observe the birth of Jesus since they coincided. This kept Christians from being persecuted.

But that is just the traditional viewpoint.

God Bless

Till all are one.

 

[nonaeroterraqueous]

The pagan aspects or Easter and Christmas are no longer taken seriously, which is to say that there are no pagan adherents actively celebrating those holidays in that way. Halloween is still very much celebrated by members of the occult for their own reasons. Besides which, as someone else pointed out, Halloween has no redeeming value.

 

[Dave-W]

Tradition. There's zero evidence that Christ was born in December. Actual evidence suggests He was born in spring.

Sept/Oct actually. During Feast of Tabernacles.

 

[Dave-W]

So if you don't like the idea of celebrating the Saints of the past, then don't celebrate Halloween. Otherwise, it's just a fun holiday in which kids get to play dress up and eat copious amounts of sweets.

OR - you could celebrate Purim (usually in Feb) instead, which ALSO has dress-up and lots of food and sweets. And it is biblical. (book of Esther)

 

[98cwitr]

OR - you could celebrate Purim (usually in Feb) instead, which ALSO has dress-up and lots of food and sweets. And it is biblical. (book of Esther)

 

[jax5434]

The day that is celebrated as Halloween was originally the Celtic celebration known as Samhain which celebrated the fall harvest. The Catholic Church (the only church at the time) accidentally created "Halloween" in an attempt to co-opt the pagan celebration. They linked it to All Souls Day in which people celebrate/remember deceased family members and other historical figure that have passed. Thus associating the celebration with death.
So when churches have a "harvest festival" as a counterpoint to Halloween they are actually celebrating the day in the same way the pagans celebrated Samhain.

God Bless,
Jax

 

[Dave-W]

Only the name "Easter" is pre-Christian. The holy day isn't.

Actually, it is. It is listed in Leviticus 23 as "Yom haBikkurim" or the Day of First Fruits.

9 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. 11 He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord for you to be accepted; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12 Now on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb one year old without defect for a burnt offering to the Lord.

 

[anna ~ grace]

Actually, it is. It is listed in Leviticus 23 as "Yom haBikkurim" or the Day of First Fruits.

9 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. 11 He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord for you to be accepted; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12 Now on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb one year old without defect for a burnt offering to the Lord.

Um, no, Sir. The Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ took place against the backdrop of Pesach / Passover, not a harvest festival.

 

[Albion]

If you take away the pagan names and practices in all 3 days, what are you actually left with to celebrate?

Christmas => the birth of our Lord. ( a good thing)
Easter => our Lord's resurrection from the dead (also a good thing)

Halloween => nothing left. (but bad things)

Well, it is called a Hallowed Eve'n for a reason. It's the night before, the eve of, All Saints Day (not All Souls Day, which is a lesser occasion and on a different day) in the historic church calendar.

But although this was a big deal day in earlier times, it's hard to think of it today as a major festival or "holy day" by comparison to the events commemorated on Christmas and Easter!

And I do agree with you that the ghostly, dark, whatever, associations are not edifying-- which again puts a lot of distance between it and Christmas or Easter.

 

[Dave-W]

Um, no, Sir. The Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ took place against the backdrop of Pesach / Passover, not a harvest festival.

Did you read the text? First Fruits of the Barley harvest happens DURING Passover/Unleavened bread.

 

[Johake]

I've always had that same question. Don't really understand why Christians celebrate pagan holidays. On top of that, insist that Jesus was born on December 25. And then you go looking for an answer and you only find people arguing back and forth. Interestingly enough now-a-days you just find the "no I'm right, no you're not, I'm right" conversations.