Quote:
Originally posted by honeychile
2) I understand the Halloween bit, since I don't celebrate it either, but I'm not sure about birthdays. Halloween is a pagan holiday, and that's why Jehovah Witnesses don't celebrate it. Actually, that's their reasoning for Christmas, too, since Jesus was more probably born in September/October than in December. When pagans were being "Christianized", many of the missionaries thought it better to let them retain their old holidays & give them Christian names, rather than try to deter them. That's the short version! 
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http://wilstar.com/holidays/hallown.htm
That gives a history of Halloween but here is some of the info ...
The word itself, "Halloween," actually has its origins in the Catholic Church. It comes from a contracted corruption of All Hallows Eve. November 1, "All Hollows Day" (or "All Saints Day"), is a Catholic day of observance in honor of saints. But, in the 5th century BC, in Celtic Ireland, summer officially ended on October 31. The holiday was called Samhain (sow-en), the Celtic New year.
(lots more interesting info and then...)
So, although some cults may have adopted Halloween as their favorite "holiday," the day itself did not grow out of evil practices. It grew out of the rituals of Celts celebrating a new year, and out of Medieval prayer rituals of Europeans. And today, even many churches have Halloween parties or pumpkin carving events for the kids. After all, the day itself is only as evil as one cares to make it.
JWs use two Scriptural events to justify not celebrating birthdays: Pharaoh's Birthday (Gen. 40:20-22) and Herod's (Matt. 14:6-10).
They say that all other holidays have pagan roots and therefore do not celebrate them.
Dee