History of name
The term Halloween is shortened from All Hallows' Even (both "even" and "eve" 
are abbreviations of "evening", but "Halloween" gets its "n" from "even") as 
it is the eve of "All Hallows' Day",[6] which is now also known as All 
Saints' Day.
It was a day of religious festivities in various northern 
European Pagan traditions,[3] until Popes Gregory III and Gregory IV moved 
the old Christian feast of All Saints' Day from May 13 (which had itself been 
the date of a pagan holiday, the Feast of the Lemures) to November 1. In the 
ninth century, the Church measured the day as starting at sunset, in 
accordance with the Florentine calendar. Although All Saints' Day is now 
considered to occur one day after Halloween, the two holidays were, at that 
time, celebrated on the same day. Liturgically, the Church traditionally 
celebrated that day as the Vigil of All Saints, and, until 1970, a day of 
fasting as well. Like other vigils, it was celebrated on the previous day if 
it fell on a Sunday, although secular celebrations of the holiday remained on 
the 31st. The Vigil was suppressed in 1955, but was later restored in the 
post-Vatican II calendar.
 
Halloween, or Hallowe’en, is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31. 
Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, ghost tours, bonfires, 
costume parties, visiting "haunted houses", carving Jack-o'-lanterns, reading 
scary stories and watching horror movies. Irish immigrants carried versions 
of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century. Other western 
countries embraced the holiday in the late twentieth century. Halloween is 
celebrated in several countries of the Western world, most commonly in the 
United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Ireland, Puerto Rico, Japan, New 
Zealand, and occasionally in parts of Australia. In Sweden the All Saints' 
official holiday takes place on the first Saturday of November.
 
Religious perspectives
In North America, Christian attitudes towards Halloween are quite diverse. 
The fact that All Saints Day and Halloween occur on two consecutive days has 
left some Christians uncertain of how they should treat this holiday. In the 
Anglican Church, some dioceses have chosen to emphasize the Christian 
traditions of All Saints Day,[44][45] while some Protestants celebrate the 
holiday as Reformation Day, a day of remembrance and prayers for unity.[46] 
Celtic Christians may have Samhain services that focus on the cultural 
aspects of the holiday, in the belief that many ancient Celtic customs 
are "compatible with the new Christian religion. Christianity embraced the 
Celtic notions of family, community, the bond among all people, and respect 
for the dead. Throughout the centuries, pagan and Christian beliefs 
intertwine in a gallimaufry (hodgepodge) of celebrations from October 31 
through November 5, all of which appear both to challenge the ascendancy of 
the dark and to revel in its mystery."[47]
 
Many Christians ascribe no negative significance to Halloween, treating it as 
a purely secular holiday devoted to celebrating “imaginary spooks” and 
handing out candy. Halloween celebrations are common among Roman Catholic 
parochial schools throughout North America and in Ireland. In fact, the Roman 
Catholic Church sees Halloween as having a Christian connection.[48] Father 
Gabriele Amorth, a Vatican-appointed exorcist in Rome, has said, "[I]f 
English and American children like to dress up as witches and devils on one 
night of the year that is not a problem. If it is just a game, there is no 
harm in that."[49] Most Christians hold the view that the tradition is far 
from being "satanic" in origin or practice and that it holds no threat to the 
spiritual lives of children: being taught about death and mortality, and the 
ways of the Celtic ancestors actually being a valuable life lesson and a part 
of many of their parishioners' heritage.[47] Other Christians, primarily of 
the Evangelical and Fundamentalist variety, are concerned about Halloween, 
and reject the holiday because they believe it trivializes (and 
celebrates) “the occult” and what they perceive as evil.[50] A response among 
some fundamentalists in recent years has been the use of Hell houses or 
themed pamphlets (such as those of Jack T. Chick) which attempt to make use 
of Halloween as an opportunity for evangelism.[51] Some consider Halloween to 
be completely incompatible with the Christian faith[52] due to its origin as 
a Pagan "festival of the dead." In more recent years, the Roman Catholic 
Archdiocese of Boston has organised a "Saint Fest" on the holiday.[51]
 
Some Wiccans feel that the tradition is offensive to "real witches" for 
promoting stereotypical caricatures of "wicked witches".[53] However, other 
Neopagans, perhaps most of them, see it as a harmless holiday in which some 
of the old traditions are celebrated by the mainstream culture, albeit in a 
different manner.
 
Festival of the Dead
>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  (Redirected from Festival of the dead)
Jump to: navigation, search
Festival of the Dead is held by many cultures throughout the world in honor 
or recognition of deceased members of the community, generally occurring 
after the harvest in August, September, October, or November. In the Japanese 
Buddhist custom to honor the departed (deceased) spirits of one's ancestors 
it is known as Bon Festival. In Inca religion the entire month of November is 
Ayamarca, which translates to Festival of the Dead.
 
In the 21st century the European calendar marks the celebrations of 
Halloween, All Saints and All Souls' Day as three different events. In many 
cultures the single event of Festival of the Dead lasting up to 3 days, was 
held at the end of November and beginning of October; such as those by the 
Peruvians, the Hindus, the Pacific Islanders, the people of the Tonga 
Islands, the Australians, the ancient Persians, the ancient Egyptians, the 
Japanese, ancient Romans, and the northern nations of Europe.[1]
 
Hallowe'en - All Hallows' EvePrintable Version
Hallowe'en - All Hallows' Eve
 
Samhain is a harvest festival and pumpkins are still associated with 
Hallowe'en ©
Hallowe'en falls on 31 October each year.
 
The origins of Hallowe'en date back over 2000 years to the ancient Celtic 
festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in).
 
This festival, which means the end of summer, celebrated the end of harvest 
and the beginning of the Celtic new year on November 1st.
 
Roman Britain
By 43 CE the Roman Empire had conquered most of the Celtic regions.
 
In the following 400 years two Roman festivals became incorporated with 
Samhain. The first was Feralia - a day in late October when the Romans 
commemorated the passing of the dead, and the second was a day to honour 
Pomona the Roman goddess of fruit and trees.
 
An apple is the symbol of Pomona, so perhaps this is the origin of the 
tradition of bobbing for apples: whoever bit into an apple first would be 
married first the next year.
 
By the 800s Christianity had spread into Celtic lands.
 
Christianity
 
Cemetery ©
In the early 7th century Pope Boniface IV consecrated the Pantheon in Rome, 
formerly a temple to all the gods, as a church dedicated to Saint Mary and 
the Martyrs, and ordered that that date (May 13) should be celebrated every 
year.
 
It became All Saints' Day, a day to honour all the saints, and later, at the 
behest of Pope Urban IV (d. 1264), a day specially to honour those saints who 
didn't have a festival day of their own.
 
In the 8th century Pope Gregory III moved the date to November 1 when he 
dedicated a chapel to all the saints in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Gregory 
IV made the festival universal throughout the Church.
 
November 1 coincided with the Pagan festival of Samhain. Encyclopaedia 
Britannica says this date may perhaps have been chosen 'in an effort to 
supplant the Pagan holiday with a Christian observance', and this would have 
been in line with the policy, suggested by Pope Gregory I of adopting Pagan 
buildings like the Pantheon and festivals like Samhain to serve a Christian 
purpose. See http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/greg1-mellitus.txt
 
Over the years these festivals combined. The mass held on All Saints' Day was 
called Allhallowmass - the mass of the Hallows. (In the Old English language 
hallow means to bless, consecrate or sanctify.) The night before was known as 
All Hallows' Eve - which eventually became known as Hallowe'en.
 
All Saints' Day is said to be the day when souls walked the Earth. In early 
Christian tradition souls were released from purgatory on All Hallow's Eve 
for 48 hours.
 
There was a clear parallel to the Pagan belief that the spirits of the dead 
could affect the land of the living on this night.
 
It was celebrated much like Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing 
up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three 
celebrations, the Eve of All Saints, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day were 
called Hallowmass.
 
Modern meaning
With their pumpkin-lanterns and witch costumes there's many a child who'll 
have great fun this evening celebrating Hallowe'en. It was derived originally 
from an ancient Pagan festival, it has become part of our culture and 
generally it's an innocent excuse for people to have a good time.
 
Literally, of course, it is the eve of All Hallows - a preparation for the 
observance tomorrow of the Feast of All Hallows or All Saints. That feast 
gives the assurance that there is a state of being that stretches beyond our 
life here on this earth - an affirmation of the essential spiritual nature of 
human life. People are made for more than can be experienced over our 
lifetime spent in this world.
 
The Apostle Paul underscores that when he writes to the Ephesians, that the 
highest role reserved for human beings is, as he puts it, "to rule with 
Christ in the heavenly world. And God has done this to demonstrate for all 
time the extraordinary greatness of his grace in the love he showed us in 
Christ Jesus".
 
So this Christian season brings us a comforting reminder that there is a 
destiny designed for us humans that assures us of a continuing existence, and 
it's a promise endorsed by Jesus when he spoke of the many mansions that he 
has prepared for us. [Hallowe'en assures] us that God's love stretches far 
beyond death.
 
Rev George Loane, former Methodist superintendent on Prayer for the Day, 31 
October 2006