Short answer: It's our New Year's Celebration.
The old year is coming to a close, we are starting our entry into the dark part of the year, the old crops are dieing and are waiting to be born anew in spring.
It's not a religious holiday - it has links to paganism, animal sacrifice, and worship of the dead.
Yes. Christianity quelled the modern interpretation of Halloween for a long time, due to it's ties to paganism and animal sacrifice centuries earlier.
In Celtic paganism, the cross-quarter (midway between a solstice and an equinox) holiday that occurs around Hallowe'en is called Samhain (sah-vin). In Norse paganism, Winter Nights occurs around the same time as Hallowe'en.Please see related link below!
The origins of Halloween are from that of Celtic Pagans, so Paganism. It was the celebration of the end of the harvest where the line between the living and the dead was the thinnest so they would wear scary masks to blend in with the spirits and carve turnips to make lanterns that ward off evil.
just like that paganism
The suffix of Paganism is -ism
Shinto is Paganism in Japan.
Paganism is more then one type of religion and paganism is found in every country.
Im inclined to think that "barbaric" paganism is in reference to the Germanic forms of paganism in North West Europe and Scandanavia
Nope, Halloween is definitely not for everyone. Though most Christians DO celebrate it and put aside the ties to paganism, worship of the dead, and sacrificial offerings for the sake of fun, others feel that it is wrong. I feel that as long as people are making informed decisions, either choice is perfectly fine.
It's known as Norse paganism.
pre-religion / paganism pre-religion / paganism