3 ms·

There is no evidence, as far as I'm aware, that Samhaim was associated with the "veil between worlds being thin" prior to Christianization. The medieval Church

There is no evidence, as far as I'm aware, that Samhaim was associated with the "veil between worlds being thin" prior to Christianization. The medieval Church was not allergic to rituals that involved the spirits of the dead. The belief that these practices are anti-Christian or pagan is a product of the Protestant Reformation. The notion that the Church was acting in a deliberate way to co-opt certain festivals that it couldn't destroy gives it too much credit. Syncretism is often bottom up. And many of the practices that survive are tied to the human experience in ways that transcend any specific belief system, like the changing of the seasons and the agricultural cycle. Also, treating paganism as some undifferentiated whole is ahistorical. Why do people talk about ancient Indo-European rituals that survive for millenia and then Christianity is the rupture? More likely, religious beliefs changed many times, and Samhain was itself a syncretic combination of a new belief system with pre-Samhain harvest festival practices.

AStonesThrow 2y ago
> a product of the Protestant Reformation. It's instructive to note the beginning date of the Reformation: 31 October 1517. Likewise, 5 November 1605 remains significant for Protestants. Bonfires on the 5th of November have been obligatory for centuries, and therefore strongly associated with this season. For Protestants. Protestant bonfires. Not pagan. Burning their fellow Christians in effigy. I would say that those two events, combined with Día de los Muertos influence, are the most enlightening aspects of Halloween culture. In fact, rather than Christians co-opting paganism, it's more properly a case of anti-Catholic bigotry co-opting All Saints Day. The secular/pagan/demonic overtones are merely allied with the Protestant jihad.
- CRConrad 2y ago
  > Bonfires on the 5th of November have been obligatory for centuries, and therefore strongly associated with this season. For Protestants. Protestant bonfires. Not pagan. Burning their fellow Christians in effigy. English Protestants. England isn't the world, even the Protestant world.

AStonesThrow 2y ago

> a product of the Protestant Reformation. It's instructive to note the beginning date of the Reformation: 31 October 1517. Likewise, 5 November 1605 remains significant for Protestants. Bonfires on the 5th of November have been obligatory for centuries, and therefore strongly associated with this season. For Protestants. Protestant bonfires. Not pagan. Burning their fellow Christians in effigy. I would say that those two events, combined with Día de los Muertos influence, are the most enlightening aspects of Halloween culture. In fact, rather than Christians co-opting paganism, it's more properly a case of anti-Catholic bigotry co-opting All Saints Day. The secular/pagan/demonic overtones are merely allied with the Protestant jihad.

CRConrad 2y ago
> Bonfires on the 5th of November have been obligatory for centuries, and therefore strongly associated with this season. For Protestants. Protestant bonfires. Not pagan. Burning their fellow Christians in effigy. English Protestants. England isn't the world, even the Protestant world.