Dia de los Muertos, all Saints day and Halloween - A Sunday reflection

Most European countries have a bank holiday tomorrow called ‘All Saints day’ and today is Halloween, which is quite popular especially in North America.

Growing up in Brazil, Halloween was never a thing for me, although we have a holiday on Nov. 2nd to remember the deceased loved ones. It’s a day to clean family members resting place, churches offer a special mass and that is basically it. In the past few years though, we can notice how Halloween is growing in popularity in many countries, although not even close to how big it is in North America.

Given the proximity with the ‘day of the dead’ holiday on Nov. 2nd, I thought Halloween was related somehow. But is it really? Before you start working on your pumpkin and put on that witch costume, here are some things you should know.

It is well known that the celebrations dedicated to the dead in Latin America (dia de los muertos), most prominently in Mexico, have Aztec roots. The Aztec ancestors would celebrate harvest in the change of seasons for a whole month. The traditions were not only to remember the dead, but it could even include bring the bones of the deceased ones to the party and bring them their favorite food and drinks.

And if this is all that was part of the celebration, it would not be problematic to care for your loved ones tombs and remember them, however, all we engage and put energy into, we should do fully informed to be able to make a clear decision. The pagan roots of this celebration are clear. Let’s keep in mind that pagan traditions are condemned by the Creator for a reason. The Creator, by asking us not to engage in necromancy and call for the loved ones who already departed, is protecting us from being contacted by lower forms of spirits that will take advantage of our weaknesses.

Therefore, besides consisting in a form of worship and cult of death, it is futile in itself. The Bible clearly teaches that the dead “are conscious of nothing at all.” (Ecclesiastes 9:5) Thus, they cannot contact the living nor enjoy the ‘partaaaayy’.

5. For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing at all, nor do they have any more reward, because all memory of them is forgotten. 6 Also, their love and their hate and their jealousy have already perished, and they no longer have any share in what is done under the sun.(Ecclesiastes 9:5-6)

Still, November is not harvest season, so how do we explain dia de los muertos in November?

As the Catholic religion became (or was forced) the official one in all Latin America, the Catholic leaders persuaded the locals to move their celebrations to early November. The first day would be to honor the dead children and the second day would be to honor the dead adults. What we should ask ourselves is: why this date specifically? Has Yahusha (Jesus) give any instructions on to the Catholic leaders to settle a ‘day to honor the dead’? Spoiler alert: no.

Then the questions remains. Why November?

To answer, we need to see the roots of Halloween. Halloween word comes from ‘All Hallows Eve’, which means literally the evening of all things ‘holy’. This is where the ‘All Saints’ day comes from. Now Halloween, which is quite popular in the US, has Celtic roots. It is believed that on October 31st, the gates between the spiritual world and the physical world are open for communication and interaction. If you watch ‘American Horror Story’, you hear this quite frequently in the show.

Medieval Celts believed that they would be left alone if they dressed up as ghosts and other wicked creatures, confusing the wandering evil spirits. The Celts would also offer sweets (was it only sweets though?) in order to calm and please the spirits and avoid ‘tricks’ from them.

Remember, evil things use nice packages to deceive us. When I lived in the US, I joined one ‘trick or treating’ trip with the kids and it was fun!! it was a lot of fun! Adults also engage in costume parties and it’s fun! However, is the fun innocent when people are oblivious to the deep meaning of things?

We should also ask ourselves the following: if it’s fun, does it mean it’s ok to go for it? The Halloween propaganda is strong in the US and no wonder people end up engaging in it. Why are we celebrating death and evil spirits?

Our engagement, our energy is powerful. Everything we collectively put our minds into creates a vibration we can’t see, but exists. This is the reason collective prayer is so powerful, btw. Given that its power is well documented not only in religious circles, we should expect to see children and adults motivated by the current culture to pray together, right? Not really, but an accepted motivation is to dress like evil creatures on a specific night of the year and consume lots of sugar. Go figure...

Our enemy, the accuser, never sleeps and he has the intelligence of the highest rank Cherubs. He has been thinking about ways to deceive human kind for thousands of years and he has been very successful in many things. Convincing most of the people that he doesn’t exist is an evil, yet brilliant idea. Closing our eyes to him makes us vulnerable and is ultimately naïve.

Let me close this reflection with a famous quote from infamous Anton LaVey.