Elves and Fairies
Witches’ sabats?
by Ælf
DO Christians
celebrate witches’ sabats? That is the assertion made by a former witch, for many years now a Christian, in an anonymous but widely circulated article about the insidious danger posed to the Church by witchcraft – and especially, she claims, the Harry Potter stories.
Certainly if one compares the
traditional Church calendar with that observed by witches, there are parallels. But does this mean that the Church has taken over the witches’ cycle of observances? By no means.
It is understandable, considering the admittedly
fundamentalist environment in which this person has experienced Christianity,
that she has acquired an impression of mainstream Churches that emphasises the influence of not only witchcraft but paganism in general on the practices of these faith communities.
But this warped view of mainstream Christianity is not
unique to breakaway fundamentalist groupings. It has characterised the
name-calling that has gone on between sacramentalist churches and radically
Protestant groupings since the time of the Reformation.
Name-calling of this kind is extremely damaging to the
unity among Christians which was both a prayer and a commandment of Jesus
Christ.
What is more, it is based on a deliberate misreading of the traditional liturgical calendar.
This is not the place to discuss the calendar in depth.
Suffice it to say that there is nothing in the liturgical calendar that
deliberately conceals a pagan festival.
Certainly there are seasons that coincide, either because
one or other pagan religion already had them in common with the Hebrew
calendar, or because the Church saw fit to draw its converts away from pagan
celebrations by requiring them to attend worship in a Christian environment.
There is but one festival commonly celebrated in
“Christian” society that has overtly pagan overtones: Halloween.
However, this day (31 October) does not have that name on
the formal Christian calendar. It is merely the eve of (the day before) All
Saints’ Day (1 November).
Nor is its name of pagan derivation. In an earlier form of English, All Saints’ was called All Hallows, and Halloween is nothing more than a contraction of All Hallow E’en.
The Old English word for holy was halig, and its
meaning is very close to both “whole” and “hale” (healthy or robust). From it were derived the Old English words halga (holy man), halge (holy woman) and halgian (to make holy, or consecrate).
So what is Halloween actually all about? Read more in this article.
