Each year, people are confronted with the social pressure of the event we call "Halloween".  This includes those who profess to be Christians.  Our children are exposed to it at school and through commercial advertising, displays, and items sold, and they find it hard to resist being part of all the festivities.  Many Christians find it harmless "fun", and see no reason to oppose it.  Other churches and believers attempt to compete with it by having special "harvest festivals", or similar such events, at the church so that families can have an alternative for their children.

Some facts:
What we know as Halloween had its beginnings in an ancient, pre-Christian Celtic festival of the dead.  The Celtic peoples, who were once found all over Europe, divided the year by four major holidays.  According to their calendar, the year began on a day corresponding to November 1st on our present-day calendar.  The date marked the beginning of winter.  Since they were a rural people, it was a time when cattle and sheep had to be moved to closer pastures and all livestock had to be secured for the winter months.  Crops were harvested and stored.  The date marked both an ending and a beginning in an eternal cycle.

The festival observed at this time was called Samhain.  It was the biggest and most significant holiday of the Celtic year.  The Celts believed that at the time of Samhain, more so than any other time of the year, the ghosts of the dead were able to mingle with the living, because at Samhain the souls of those who had died during the year traveled into the "otherworld".  People gathered to sacrifice animals and the produce of the land.  They also lit bonfires in honor of the dead, to aid them on their journey, and to keep them away from the living.  On that day, all manner of beings were gathered:  ghosts, fairies, demons - all part of the dark and dread "otherworld".

Samhain became the Halloween we are familiar with when missionaries attempted to change the religious practices of the Celtic people.  In the early centuries of the first 1000 years A.D., the Celts practiced an elaborate religion through their priestly caste, the Druids, who were priests, poets, scientists and scholars all at once.  As religious leaders, the Druids were not unlike the very missionaries who were to "Christianize" their people and brand them evil devil worshipers.

As a result of their efforts to wipe out "pagan" holidays, the missionaries succeeded in effecting major transformations in it.  In 601 A.D., Pope Gregory the First issued a now famous edict to his missionaries concerning the native beliefs and customs of the people that he hoped to convert.  Rather than try to eliminate their customs and beliefs, the pope instructed his missionaries to use them  -  if a group of people worshiped a tree, rather than cut it down and burn it, he advised to "consecrate" it to Christ and allow its continued worship.

In terms of spreading "Christianity", this was a brilliant concept, and it became the basic approach of the Roman Catholic Church's missionary work.  Church holy days were purposely set to coincide with native/pagan holy days.  Christmas, for instance, was assigned the arbitrary date of December 25th because it corresponded with the mid-winter celebration of many pagan people.

Samhain, with its emphasis on the supernatural, was decidedly pagan.  The effects of this policy was to diminish, but not totally eradicate, the beliefs in the many 'gods'.  Celtic belief in supernatural creatures persisted, while the church made deliberate attempts to define them as being not merely dangerous, but malicious.  Followers of the old "religion" went into hiding and were branded as witches.

The predominately Catholic feast of All Saints was assigned to November 1st.  The day honored every "Christian" saint, especially those that did not otherwise have a special day already. That feast day was meant to substitute for Samhain, to draw the devotion of the Celtic peoples, and, finally, to replace it forever.

The old beliefs associated with Samhain never died out entirely.  The powerful symbolism of the traveling dead was too strong to be satisfied with the new Catholic feast honoring the saints.  In the 9th Century, the Roman Catholic Church tried to supplant Samhain again when it established November 2nd as All Souls Day - a day when the living prayed for the souls of the dead.  But, once again, the practice of retaining traditional beliefs and customs lived on, in new guises.

All Saints Day, also known as All Hallows, continued the ancient Celtic traditions.  The evening prior to the day was the time of the most intense activity, both human and supernatural.  People continued to celebrate All Hallows Eve as a time of the wandering dead, but the supernatural beings were not thought to be evil.  The people continued to propitiate those spirits, and their masked impersonators, by setting out gifts of food and drink.  Subsequently, All Hallows Eve became Hallow Evening, which became Hallowe'en - an ancient Celtic, pre-Christian New Years Day in contemporary dress.

Virtually all present Halloween traditions can be traced to the ancient Celtic day of the dead.  Halloween is a "holiday" of many mysterious customs, but each one has a history, or at least a story behind it.

The wearing of costumes, for instance, and roaming from door to door demanding treats can be traced to the Celtic period when it was thought that the souls of the dead were out and around, along with fairies, witches, and demons.  Offerings of food and drink were left outside to pacify them.  As the centuries wore on, people began dressing like these dreadful creatures in order to get the food and drink.  To this day, witches, ghosts and skeleton figures of the dead are some of the most popular costumes.  Halloween also retains some of the features that hearken back to the original harvest holiday of Samhain, such as the customs of bobbing for apples, carving vegetables, and drinking spiced cider that is associated with that day.

Today, Halloween is becoming once again an adult holiday or masquerade, something like Mardi Gras.  Men and women in every costume imaginable are taking to the streets of American cities and parading past carved jack-o-lanterns, re-enacting customs that reach back to the original pagan holiday.

Their masked antics challenge, mock, tease and appease the dread forces of the night, of the soul, and of the "otherworld" that becomes our world on this night of irreversible possibilities, inverted roles, and transcendency.

In so doing, they are reaffirming death and its place as a part of life in an exhilarating celebration of an unholy, demonic and magic evening.

My conclusion: 

No one, especially true Bible-believing Christians, should have anything to do with the celebration of Halloween.  No caring mother or father, Christian or otherwise, should subject their child to the unknown forces that are present on this evening of the celebration of the dead.  Halloween is pagan, and its emphasis and glorification of Satan, demons and death can only do harm, and is a far cry from what true Christian believers should celebrate.

(Excerpts have been taken from an article written by Jack Santino, and can be found in the Library of Congress)