If I asked most people what they thought was the meaning of Halloween, I would hear them tell me a number of things ranging from it being innocent fun all the way to it being an evil, demonic holiday. I propose a meaning that most have never seemed to consider.

As you probably know, Halloween is celebrated on October 31st of each year. It typically includes individuals dressing up in something ghostly, ghoulish, and terrifying, and then these altered beings go out and visit the normal "living," asking them to give them food or candy.  Just two days after Halloween in much of Mexico, Central and South America, and the Philippines, among other places, a very similar practice occurs, called in Spanish, Dia de los Muertos, meaning, The Day of the Dead, celebrated on November 1st and 2nd. The obvious part of this celebration is the belief that this is the time that the dead come back to pay a visit, and everyone prepares food for them to "eat" when they visit. Also, many wear various death-related costumes, especially ones that look like skeletons. It does not take a genius to figure out that Halloween and Dia de los Muertos most likely have the same origin due to their similarities in practices and when both are observed.

It appears that this celebration is not limited to the Americas. It is my understanding that around November 1st, both Peru and distant Egypt carry out the same exact ritual on the same day each year. Both put a wooden idol of theirs into a wooden coffin. Then the coffin is floated on a river, which is supposedly symbolic of their "god" being kept from drowning in flood waters. The odds of two very different cultures so far apart doing the same thing at exactly the same time must be astronomical.

The similarities do not stop there with only Halloween and Dia de los Muertos. Nearly every culture in every part of the world have stories or "myths" that contain a number of strikingly similar features related to these two holidays. In fact, the most common and widespread "myth" throughout the world is about a flood (Reim, 1925). Unlike most people, I believe that there is nearly always some accurate historical information embedded within all so-called "myths" found around the world. Myths appear to be historical records handed down verbally generation to generation, within and without a particular culture. Unfortunately, because of how they have been handed down, much of the accuracy is lost or changed, just like when a group of people play the game of Telephone. This game is played by someone starting off whispering to another a long message. Next, the person who heard the message tries to whisper what they could remember of the message to another. This game continues until everyone in the group has heard the message.  Then the last person shares to the whole group what they heard, and then the original messenger says what the message originally was. It is always entertaining and interesting to see how much the message had changed.  If each member of the group was serious in repeating what they heard, the group will always hear bits of the original message in the final version, in spite of how strange and distorted it had become. There are very many similar features among most of world's flood "myths," but all of them have at least three main points in common: 1-- there is a universal destruction of the human race and all living things by water. 2-- Some kind of boat is provided as the means of escape. 3-- A seed of mankind is preserved to perpetuate the human race (someone survives the flood while riding in a "boat") (Rehwinkel, 1951).

Here are just a few specific examples of these traditions:

When the Tamanac tribes of Mexico are asked how the human race survived the great deluge - the age of water - of the Mexican, they say, a man and a woman saved themselves on a high mountain called Tamanacu, and casting behind them over their heads the fruits of the mauritia palm tree, they saw the seeds contained in these fruits produce men and women, who re-peopled the earth (Miller, p. 284).

The Papage Indians of Arizona have the following tradition: "The Great Spirit first made the earth and its creatures. Then he came down to look at his handiwork. Digging in the ground he had made, he found some clay. He took this back into the sky with him and let it fall back into the hole he had excavated. Immediately there came out a man, in the form of Montezuma, the hero of this legend. With the help there also came forth all the Indian tribes in order. The last to come were the Apaches, wildest of all tribes, who scattered to the four winds as soon as they issued forth. Peace and happiness was in the world those first days. The sun being nearer to the earth than it is now, all the seasons were warm, and no one wore clothing. Men and animals shared a common tongue, and all were brothers.

Then a fearful catastrophe shattered the golden days. A great flood destroyed all flesh wherein was the breath of life, except Montezuma and a coyote who was his friend. The coyote had prophesied the flood's coming, and Montezuma, his friend, had believed him. He hollowed out a boat for himself and kept it waiting on a mountain top. the coyote was pretty wise, too. He gnawed out a great cane by the river bank, caulked it with gum, and with the coming of the waters clambered into it. The great waters rose, but Montezuma and the coyote floated upon them and were saved.

When the waters receded, the man Montezuma and the wolf(?) who had warned him met on dry land. Anxious to discover how much dry land was left, the man sent out the coyote to explore, and the animal reported that to the west, the south, and the east there was a sea, but to the north he could find no sea, though he had journeyed until he was weary. Meanwhile the Great Spirit, with the help of good old Montezuma, had restocked the earth with men and animals. Another legend of the great flood is similar, with an eagle substituting for the wolf" (Thomas, pp 188-189).

In Peru, the ancient Indians reported that many years before there were any Incas all the people were drowned by a great flood, except for six people, the progenitors of the existing races, who were saved on a floating device; that among the Mechoachens it was believed that a single family was preserved, during the outburst of the waters, in the ark, with a sufficient number of animals to replenish the new world; and, more curious still, that it used to be told by the original inhabitants of Cuba that "an old man, knowing the deluge was to come, built a great ship and went into it with his family and abundance of animals; and that, wearying during the continuance of the flood, he sent out a crow, which at first did not return, staying to feed on the dead bodies, but afterwards returned bearing with it a green branch" (Rehwinkel, pp. 134-135).

According to a Mexican Flood tradition, Coxcox, also called Tezpi by other tribes, saved himself, his wife, his children, some animals, and some grain, from a great flood by embarking in a boat or raft. When the Great Spirit ordered the water to withdraw, Tezpi sent out from his ship a vulture. This bird feeds on carrion and hence did not return because of the great number of carcasses strewn all over the earth. Tezpi sent out other birds, of which the hummingbird alone returned, bringing with it a branch covered with leaves (Rehwinkel, P. 136).

The Hawaiians say that long after the time of Kumuhonua, the first man, the earth became wicked and careless of worship of the gods. One man was righteous, Nu-u. He made a great canoe with a house on it and stored it with food, taking plants and animals into it. Then the waters came up over all the earth and destroyed all of mankind except Nu-u and his family. When he came out upon the land after the water had subsided, he looked up and saw the moon and thought it was Cane, the great god; so he worshiped it. This displeased Cane, and he came down on a rainbow to reprove Nu-u, but he did not punish him, for Nu-u did this by mistake. When he returned to the sky, he left the rainbow behind him as a token of his forgiveness (Rehwinkel, p. 138).

Lithuanian story says Pramzimas, the supreme deity, looked out of the window of heaven and observed the wickedness of mankind; so he determined to destroy them. He sent two great giants, Wandu and Wegas, that is to say water and wind, to execute his orders, and after twenty days only a remnant of mankind was left upon the top of a high mountain. Pramzimas looked out again and noticed this. He was eating nuts at the time, and by accident he let fall a nut shell which dropped upon the mountain. Into this everyone climbed and thus was saved. Only a single old couple remained on the spot, and they were naturally disturbed by the catastrophe. So the god sent them the rainbow to comfort them and told them to jump nine times over the bones of the earth. This they did, and nine fresh couples sprang up to become the ancestors of the nine tribes of the Lithuanians (Peake, p. 15).

According to the Hindus of India and China, Manu, the great progenitor of the human race, was warmed, so their tradition goes, by a great fish that the earth was about to be engulfed with water. He was told to build a ship and put into it all kinds of seeds, together with seven Rishis, or holy beings. The flood came as announced and covered the whole earth. The ship was made fast to the horns of the fish, which drew it on in safety and finally landed it on the loftiest summit of the Himalayas. Manu was permitted by God to create the new race of mankind (Reywinkel, p. 141).

According to the Chinese traditions, Fah-he escaped from a deluge which destroyed the human race with the exception of himself, his wife, his three sons, and three daughters, and from these, the whole earth was peopled (Reywinkel, p. 142).

The Persians had a tradition that the world had been corrupted by Ahriman, the Prince of Darkness. It was necessary to cover it with a flood so as to sweep away its impurities. The rain fell in drops as large as a bull's head(!), and the flood rose to man's height above the earth, so that all the creatures of Ahriman were destroyed (Urquhart, p. 173).

The deluge tradition of the Egyptians connected the commemoration of the dead, which was done by symbolical ceremony, in which a priest placed the image of Osiris in a sacred ark and launched it out into the sea and there watched it disappear from sight. This ceremony was observed on the 17th day of Athyr, which corresponds to the date given in the Mosaic account of the Flood (Urquhart, pp. 175 ff).

The Greeks had the following tradition: Prometheus had a son who reigned in Phthia and married Pyrrha, daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora. Because Zeus wished to destroy mankind, Deucalion, by the advice of Prometheus, made a coffer, or box, into which he put all the necessities of life and into which he withdrew with Pyrrha. Zeus having caused a great rain to fall, the greater part of Greece was inundated. Deucalion, having been tossed about by the sea for nine days and nights, at length came to the shore at Parnassus. The rain having ceased, he came out of his coffer and offered a sacrifice to Zeus, who sent Hermes to ask him what he wanted. He replied that he wished to people the earth. By order of Zeus he and his wife then threw stones behind them. Those thrown by Beucalion became men, while those thrown by Pyrrha became women (Peake, p. 18).

The Greeks had another interesting legend, with elements of Flood traditions, concerning the Island of Atlantis. According to this legend, there was a large island in the sea beyond the Pillars of Hercules. This was larger than Libya and Asia put together and was the way to other islands.  From this island one could pass to the whole of the opposite continent, which surround the true ocean; for their sea, which is within the straits of Hercules, is only a harbor, having a narrow entrance, but that other is a real sea, and the surrounding land may be most truly called a continent. Now, in this Island of Atlantis, there was a great and wonderful empire which had control over other islands and parts of the continent. But in the course of history there occurred a violent earthquake and floods, and in a single day and night of misfortune all the warlike men in a body sank into the earth, and the Island of Atlantis in like manner disappeared and was sunk beneath the sea (Reywinkel, p. 145).  A reader of my web page has claimed the following about this myth: The translation of the text is incorrect. Atlantis was not larger than Libya and Asia, it was "between" Libya and Asia! The Ancient text says meezos (larger) When in fact it is a synonym gone bad. It's actually Meesos. Today that word means half. And in Homeric times, it meant middle. The lost city of Atlantis, is the unusually shaped, as though something blew it up, Greek island of Santorini.  In an earlier version of this article, I said I believed this island was Antarctica.  Actually, that is not what I believe. It should have stated that a number of others believe that this island was Antarctica.  I believe that this "island" is more likely was a vague recollection of the pre-contintental drift super continent of Gondwanaland that broke apart some time after the world-wide flood.

Apart from the Bible, the next most amazing Flood account is the Babylonian account. It is called The Epic of Gilgamesh, and it is standard reading in most ancient history college classes. It sounds very mythological as in the other accounts, but it's story is so long that it does not seem worthwhile to post here. I suggest the reader go to a library or bookstore to see the story in its entirety within the chapter named "The Story of the Flood."

If you have studied much of my web page, you would know that I rely on the historical validity of the Bible more than any other source of information. This is because it has been divinely protected from the natural degradation that occurs when information is handed from one to another. The Dead Sea Scrolls are ancient scrolls found earlier this century that clearly confirms that the Bible has not changed for thousands of years.  The recently discovered Bible Code is more and more appearing to be another confirmation of lack of information degradation in the Bible.

In light of this, here is in my opinion, the most accurate account of this Flood: Genesis 6:1 to 9:1-- Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.  And the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years."  There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the LORD said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them."

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. "Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. "And this is how you shall make it: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. "You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.

"And behold, I Myself am bringing floodwaters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. "But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark-- you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. "And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. "Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. "And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them."

Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did. Then the LORD said to Noah, "Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation. "You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female; "also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth. "For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made."

And Noah did according to all that the LORD commanded him. Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters were on the earth. So Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood. Of clean animals, of animals that are unclean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the earth, two by two they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.

On the very same day Noah and Noah's sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark-- they and every beast after its kind, all cattle after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. And they went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life. So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the LORD shut him in.

Now the flood was on the earth forty days. The waters increased and lifted up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth, and the ark moved about on the surface of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. And all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died. So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. And the waters prevailed on the earth one hundred and fifty days.

Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.

So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground. But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself. And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark. Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore.

And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry. And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried. Then God spoke to Noah, saying, "Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with you. "Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth."

So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him. Every animal, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark. Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma. Then the LORD said in His heart, "I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. "While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease." So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth."

Did you know that less than 100 years ago, the belief in a WORLD-WIDE FLOOD was held by almost everyone, regardless of their culture or religion?  Did you know that the Bible predicted that "the last days" would be characterized by people who no longer believed that the entire world once was destroyed by a flood?  Read the following:

(2 Peter 3:3-7)  Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with {their} mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For {ever} since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation." For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God {the} heavens existed long ago and {the} earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water.  But the present heavens and earth by His word are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

After reading the Bible account of this terrible world-wide flood, the following Bible quote from Jesus about the the time right before His second coming should also be sobering: Luke 17:26-27 "And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: "They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all." It should be noted that Daniel W. E. Green of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics stated that the latest orbital calculations indicate that the Hale-Bopp comet last passed through the inner solar system about 4210 years ago. An Arutz-7 correspondent noted on 3/31/97, that according to the ancient Jewish text Seder Olam Rabah, the comet's previous appearance was approximately the same year that Noah began building the ark.  Hopefully, the reader now has a deeper understanding of what Halloween is about, that it is a memorial to the millions (or maybe even billions) of humans and animals that died during the world-wide flood not too many thousands of years ago.
 

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