The History, Mystery, and Hope of Halloween

Ready to journey back in time and explore the origins and traditions of Halloween? From ancient Celtic festivals and bonfires to costumes and trick-or-treating, we unravel the rich tapestry of this controversial holiday. We take a detour to Ireland and Scotland, exploring unique customs like pumpkin carving and trick-or-treating. But we won't stop at the festive frolics; Halloween, after all, is also about facing fears.

Fear, an emotion we all grapple with in different measures, takes center stage as we delve into personal experiences of battling anxieties. Lean in as we share how faith and scripture can help us rise above fear, and how you too can find strength in them. Discover the themes of my book "Facelift: Embracing Hope Through Your Heartaches", a testament to resilience and hope. Whether you're a Halloween enthusiast or someone in need of faith-fueled courage, there's plenty of encouragement, wisdom, and insights to be gleaned from this episode.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Hi, friends, welcome to Holly's Highlight, a podcast designed to encourage, inspire and accrue you to intentionally live your life full of purpose. I'm your host, holly Kirby, motivational speaker, leadership cultivator, marketing strategist and personal cheerleader. Let's check out today's highlight. Happy Halloween, my friends.

Speaker 1: 0:24

We have officially entered the day that seems consumed with costumes, parties and, every dinner stream, candy galore. Now, according to the Library of Congress, halloween is rooted in the ancient Celtic festival of Sawin, which is a pagan religious celebration that kind of marked the end of the harvest and therefore brought in the new year Now along with this holiday. It was thought to be that the veil, so to speak, between the present day and the afterlife was thin enough that some could even communicate with the dead. Now, this is why bonfires were common, along with sacrificing of animals, and, according to an article in Good Housekeeping regarding why we celebrate Halloween, the villagers would wear animal heads and skins, which was believed to ward off ghosts, and that has kind of led into those costumes, so the kind of the first costume experience, if you will. While interesting in sight, these bonfires would attract bugs, which would then attract bats, hence why bats are associated with Halloween. Now, fast forward a few centuries and Pope Gregory III initiated November 1st as Saint's Day to honor all the saints. As a result, october 31st became known as Hallows Eve, now, from there, many cultures played a part into the different traditions we have leading up to, or actually on the day of Halloween. So carving pumpkins actually comes from Ireland, where it's believed that they would carve turnips and put a light in them to ward off evil spirits.

Speaker 1: 1:52

My research for trick-or-treating has many opinions as to where or how it originated, but one belief is that it is from the Scottish influence, where kids and adults who were poor would go around home to home, collecting money or food in return for prayers for the dead. Now, after some time and controversy, the day was approached in a non-religious stance by replacing those prayers with more of talents, of songs or telling a joke, all of which were referred to as tricks. Nonetheless, there are those who really embrace this day as a celebration, whether that be of a religious perspective or just a fun novelty, and others who loathe such day. And then there are those who just want to have fun, and that's the category our family falls under. Growing up, my siblings and I would dress up and go trick-or-treating and that was about it, and then, as I got older, we'd take part in hosting an annual harvest party at the church, with games and food and a little message about letting God handle the spooky things in our life. And then, as I had children of my own, we've enjoyed dressing up as a family theme each year. So from Flintstones and Star Wars, men in Black, including the Alien, and even Monsters and characters, to pirates and celebrities and military troops, sports figures, even simple shirts with fun sayings, that all went together. We've just simply enjoyed being together as a family, dressing up and making memories, including a family Halloween movie or two.

Speaker 1: 3:20

Now, for me, I've never been the haunted house type, nor the horror movie seeker. I personally don't like to be scared. There just seems to be enough things in this world. You know, situations we encounter, news we hear, especially right now, challenges faced those are all scary enough. Now, when I was in high school, I used to cut out die cuts of ghosts with my mom to put on lockers to encourage my student class body and we'd write on the ghosts let Jesus handle the spooky things in life, along with the Bible verse of 1 Peter 5-7, which says cast your cares or your anxieties upon him, for he cares for you, but that's kind of hard to do sometimes, isn't it? I mean, there is so much we can get anxious about, the what ifs, the unknowns, the fears that we have.

Speaker 1: 4:07

Now one of my favorite books is 10 Seconds of Insane Courage by Garrett Graveson. You've heard me share of this before. I really like this book, and in it he shares of eight fears Fears of the unknown, as we've mentioned, fear of letting go, of not being good enough, fear of those first steps, of bailing out, of not having enough or even disappointing others and, of course, that fear of failure, which of those seems to resonate with you. What do you fear? Now? I have a sign in my home that sits prominently in my kitchen, so that me and my kids can be reminded daily of it, as it reads let your faith be bigger than your fear. So how do we do that? Well, three ways we're going to cover. First, just a second.

Speaker 1: 4:56

Corinthians 10-5 instructs us we need to take captive our every thought and make it obedient to Christ. Our mind sure has a way of playing games with us, doesn't it? We can start thinking about something to where we just dwell on it, to where it utterly consumes us. I had this experience the other night with something one of my kids told me about regarding someone at their school, and it literally kept me up that night, all night, until I finally had to just do exactly this Take that thought, ask God to help me, lay it at his feet and surrender such thoughts to him, and then trust him with the situation and that person involved. Guess what Moments after doing that, I was out like a light. Take, captive your every thought, purposefully and intentionally redirect those thoughts and make them obedient to God.

Speaker 1: 5:54

Number two 2nd Timothy 1-7 says it's best, for God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Now, when my kids get scared, I remain them of this verse and of three things that I think go along with it. First of all is to call in the name of Jesus, jesus, jesus, jesus. It makes the demon shudder. Just check it out in Mark 9, 14 through 29.

Speaker 1: 6:21

The second is to sing. When I am afraid, I will trust in him, I will trust in him. I will trust in him when I am afraid, I will trust in him, in God, whose word I praise. Now, according to singupfoundationorg, when we sing, endorphins and oxytocin are released by the brain, which in turn lowers stress and anxiety levels. And then, number three, pray. Mark 11, 24 reminds us not to just pray but to believe that our prayers will be answered. Pray with power. Now, all three of these tap in to that power, that love and that sound mind. That takes us to the third and final one of trust him.

Speaker 1: 7:16

Proverbs 3, 5 through 6 is a lie. First, I claimed back when I was in eighth grade, and it instructs us to trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not to your own understanding in all your ways. Acknowledge him and he will direct your path. Many of you have heard of my book facelift embracing hope through your heartaches, which released this recent April. It's available through all bookstores and online retailers.

Speaker 1: 7:41

Well, in there I share of just a handful of challenges and trials I've encountered on my path of life, and those have been scary. They've been really scary. It's scary finding out your childhood dreams of marriage and a family are shattering and there's nothing you can do about it, no matter how hard you fight for the marriage. It's scary being told you have health issues of anaphylaxia every time you eat and the doctors don't know why it's scary when you hear that C word come from your father's mouth, when he reveals he's just been diagnosed with such incurable disease. It's scary when you learn your best friend and mother has less than a year to live.

Speaker 1: 8:24

Life is scary, friends, but we can trust him and here's the comforting part. We don't have to understand it. Most likely we won't understand it, but we can look to the one who, according to Jeremiah 29, 11, has good for us, a purpose for us. God is good, god's got us, so trust him. No matter the fear that you're facing, is God calling you out of your comfort zone? And is it scary? Are you struggling with health or financial fears? Did you or a loved one receive a diagnosis or news that has just stopped you in your tracks? With that deer in the headlights feel, do you have a big decision, performance tests or even an event coming up and you just kind of worry how it's going to go? Take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ. Tap into that power, the love and sound mind. Do not give into that spirit of fear and trust him. He's got you now.

Speaker 1: 9:34

Perhaps you're listening today and this is all foreign to you. Well, I'd encourage you to listen to season one, episode 11 on Holly's highlights, where we talk about the hope of Christmas, which may better help you understand today's tips, or head on over to Amazoncom and type in Holly Kirby that's H-O-L-L-Y-C-U-R-B-Y, where it should pull up my book facelift order. That read that and you'll have plenty of resources for such path. Either way, as you and yours enjoy this day in one way or another, it is my hope that, no matter what challenges, trials, fears or unknowns you're facing today, that you'll let Jesus handle the spooky things in your life. Thank you for joining me on this journey of life. I hope that today's highlight has been encouraging, inspiring and equipping so you can go out and live your life full of purpose. I'd be honored if you take a moment to leave a review or, better yet, subscribe. We can also stay in touch by joining my email list at Holly Kirby dot com. That's H-O-L-L-Y-C-U-R-B-Y dot com. Until next time, make it a great day for a great day.