My Dear Readers,
HALLOWEEN 'Eve of Hallows', 'Eve of the Hallowed', 'Evening before All Saints'.
Many may feel that ancient Halloween celebrations associated with witches, masks, trick or treat, and other practices, have been 'stolen' from the Christian Calendar. However, when Christianity was spreading throughout Britain, it was the Christians who 'borrowed' the festivities that were already being used by Pagan Druids in celebrating 'Samhain, Lord of the Dead' on 1 November. It was believed that, at this time of year, the barriers between life and death came down, and that evil spirits roamed freely. Bonfires were lit to keep the spirits away. Despite the efforts of Popes, Bishops and many others, to maintain the Feast of All Saints as a religious festival, the pagan elements of Halloween still remain.
The Christian celebration of All Hallows, proclaiming that good people passed to another life where they were rewarded, was celebrated with greater confidence by Christians because of their belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
While Halloween is, for most, no longer a religious festival, the Church cannot choose to ignore it. Apart from the fact that we would be seen as boring killjoys, we can show that we are clear about what is dangerous or unwholesome. Indeed, we can see how the festivities brighten these darker days, bringing families, their neighbours and friends outdoors to light a few fireworks and eat a bonfire meal.
We can show that we regard Halloween and All Saints as the celebration of good over evil, light over darkness, and the happy gathering of Jesus surrounded by his followers 'who have done his will throughout the ages.'
Then on Sunday, we can sing with gusto, ' Oh when the saints go marching in.....
Adapted from the Internet
Originally, Christians celebrated the Anniversary of a martyr's death as the saint's 'birth day' by observing an All-Night Vigil and then celebrating the Eucharist over their tomb or the shrine at their place of martyrdom. In the fourth century, neighbouring dioceses began to transfer relics and started to celebrate the feast days of specific martyrs in common. Frequently, a number of Christians suffered martyrdom on the same day, which led to joint commemorations.
During the persecution by Diocletian the number of martyrs became so great that a separate day could not be assigned to each. The Church, feeling that every martyr should be venerated, appointed one day for all. A commemoration of 'All Martyrs' began to be celebrated as early as 270 although no specific month or date is mentioned in existing records. The first trace of a general celebration on a specific day is attested in Antioch - on the Sunday after Pentecost. There is mention of a common day in a sermon of St Ephrem the Syrian (373) and the custom is also referred to in a homily of St John Chrysostom (407) - 'a feast of martyrs of the whole world.'
As early as 411 there is found among the Chaldean Christians a general commemoration of all Confessors celebrated on Easter Friday.
In the early seventh century, after successive waves of invaders plundered the catacombs, Pope Boniface IV gathered up some 28 wagonloads of bones and reinterred them beneath the Pantheon, a Roman temple dedicated to all the gods. The Pope rededicated the shrine as a Christian church to Mary and the Martyrs. According to Venerable Bede, the Pope intended that 'the memory of all the saints might in the future be honoured in the place which had formerly been dedicated to the worship not of gods but of demons.' The rededication of the Pantheon, like the earlier commemoration of all the martyrs, occurred in May. The Pantheon is the most visited free tourist attraction in the world. Similarly, the Colosseum, which had become a 'quarry' for builders, was was consecrated to all the Martyrs and was saved from further distruction. Many Eastern Churches still honour all the saints in the spring, either during the Easter season or just after Pentecost. How the Western Church came to celebrate this feast in November is a puzzle to historians. The Anglo-Saxon theologian Alcuin observed the feast on 1 November 800, as did his friend Arno, Bishop of Salzburg. Rome finally adopted that date in the ninth century. Finally The Feast of All Hallows first honoured martyrs, only. Later, when Christians were free to worship, the Church acknowledged other paths to sanctity. In the early centuries the only criterion was popular acclaim, even when the bishop's approval became the final step in placing a commemoration on the calendar. The first papal canonisation occurred in 993; the lengthy process, now required to prove extraordinary sanctity, has taken form in the last 500 years.
Today's feast honours the obscure as well as the famous - the saints each of us has known.