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Why so much dislike for Halloween in Poland? Posted by on Oct 30, 2018 in Religion

Recently a lot of my “Facebook friends” have been posting and sharing different messages about Halloween in Poland. Most of them are against this holiday…

Halloween originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor all saints. Soon, All Saints Day incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain. The evening before was known as All Hallows Eve, and later Halloween. Over time, Halloween evolved into a day of activities like trick-or-treating, carving jack-o-lanterns, festive gatherings, donning costumes and eating sweet treats.

Image courtesy pixabay.com

Many celebrate Halloween on the night of 31st October, but the Roman Catholic Church in Poland opposes Halloween and its celebration. The All Saints’ Day and the All Souls’ Day are more important for Polish Catholics. However, many young people have been celebrating Halloween in Poland for some years.

The reason for this aversion towards Halloween probably derives from the traditional christian character of Poland – in the past dressing up as ghosts and monsters was considered a dangerous pagan ritual. That belief has been passed on though the ages and has stuck deeply in the conscience of the Poles. Fortunately, as the world becomes more and more of a „global village”, we start to notice that celebrating Halloween couldn’t be further from being a mockery of the dead. In fact, it constitutes mainly of great fun for both children and adults.

In my opinion there’s nothing wrong with putting on a costume, trick-or-treating, and enjoying the company of your friends and family.

I would love to hear your opinion. Please share your thought on celebrating Halloween in comments below:)

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About the Author: Kasia

My name is Kasia Scontsas. I grew near Lublin, Poland and moved to Warsaw to study International Business. I have passion for languages: any languages! Currently I live in New Hampshire. I enjoy skiing, kayaking, biking and paddle boarding. My husband speaks a little Polish, but our daughters are fluent in it! I wanted to make sure that they can communicate with their Polish relatives in our native language. Teaching them Polish since they were born was the best thing I could have given them! I have been writing about learning Polish language and culture for Transparent Language’s Polish Blog since 2010.


Comments:

  1. Anna Kulpa:

    I like the tradition of all Hallows eve, when the souls of the deceased are supposed to be nearest to the earth. I think kids love to dress up & tell ghost stories, but unfortunately I think the whole event has become over commercial, rather like Christmas has. I love the tradition of all saints in Poland – it has a really special atmosphere.