All Holy Evening

In recent years we have seen and heard of many claims that the day called “Halloween” is a Catholic holiday. Nothing could be further from the truth. The only part of Halloween that these sources claim to be linked to a Catholic base is by name only and not the customs (which go back to Druids). But is this assertion of the name true? Well, we decided to do our own little research to see if there is a common root. Among all our findings we started to wonder if Halloween might not be the root of “All Holy Evening” but rather two words “hallow”, which means to be holy or consecrated and “ween” whose meaning we did not know. So we looked into our dictionary to see if “ween” had a meaning and we’re startled to find that it does. It means, “to suppose”, “guess”, or “fancy”. We found this particularly interesting because most Christian do “suppose” or “fancy” this night as holy when in fact it is far from holy! So what is really the origin of this celebration?

Originally All Saints Day came the week after Pentecost in Antioch and was instituted to honor all those who had been martyred in our faith. At one time we honored our martyrs on the day they died (like Saint Nicholas Day) but Pope Urban IV instituted this holiday to overcome the deficiencies he saw in the keeping of the individual feasts, so at its inception this was a Feast of Martyrs. This would have been complicated even more as more people died for our L-rd in the persecution of the Roman Emperor Diocletian (245-313) because their numbers would cause us to be celebrating one of their days for every day of the year. In 411 on the Chalde’an Calendar there was a "Commemoratio Confessorum" for the Friday after Easter, which venerated the sacrifice of the saints as well. Later Boniface IV set the date again to the 13th of May but this wouldn’t be the last change. Due to growing popularity of this feast day and the fear of running short of food, Pope Gregory IV moved the feast into the fall to take advantage of the plentiful harvest and thus it ended up on November 1st. We also understood that a vigil for this holiday was kept, but the details of this are not as clear; however, we know from what we could find that this was a Church Vigil or vespers and not “tricks or treats”. From all of this, we can clearly draw the conclusion that our fathers did feast on this holy day for eight days, beginning on the Hallow evening after the evening mass or vespers. Thus the “other stuff” we see has nothing to do with the ancient Catholic feast. So where did those other customs come from?

As to origins of the modern “celebration” we have to go back to the Druids (its original name Samhain) where there are roots to a Roman goddess Pomona who was the goddess of fruits and orchards, hence the custom of bobbing (or ducking) for apples. More roots came from the Druids and this will be made clear as we explain their customs. On this day the Druids felt that the dead walked the earth and they were said to terrorize the peoples. So their priests dressed as these horrid creatures under the claim that they would move among them to lead them out of town. Also the people were told to offer these “dead” sweet foods to pacify them in hopes that they would leave peaceably with the hidden priests of their tribes. As for the gifts given to the “dead”, the people knew that if they failed to give these gifts their homes could get burned and they themselves be dragged out to join the bonfires, and not as a spectator. What were those bonfires? These were great fires made of hay or another highly combustible substance which they built on the hill tops in the shape of a man (their god) and offered both human (not only of the uncooperative masses but enemies of war) and animal sacrifices to their god contained inside the human effigy.

Many say the modern “celebration” has little to do with these ancient customs, but the facts speak far differently. Consider that before this century Halloween was a time when acts of mischief, like overturning a shed or breaking windows. And these were not always mild events as can be seen from the pranks that leveled city blocks of Detroit in the 1970’s and 1980’s through acts of arson and from those who inserted razor blades or even poisoned the “treats” throughout our childhood back from the 60’s through the 80’s. So where did the custom of “trick or treat” come from? The common practice of “trick or treat” developed in the 1930’s with hopes of replacing some of this terror; although many just moved the terror to the day before calling it “beggar’s night” or “devil’s night” (a fitting name). And is there any wonder why we teach our children to say “trick or treat”? Is it not through the voices of those evil Druid priests who extorted foods and money from the masses in return for protection from the bonfires? After all, we in the modern world know that demons or the dead really don’t walk upon earth in that way. Scripture actually tells us that demons prefer a human body, although they may accept the body of an animal in pinch. Therefore if they did walk the earth among those Druid people they probably did so in the body of one of those vicious priests who built the bonfires the “demons” used to terrorize the masses!

As to All Holy Evening this was once a holy, righteous and highly important Catholic holiday (in fact it’s still officially an eight day feast) but something changed over the years. This isn’t the only holyday or holiday that has suffered; there is Christmas and Easter that have seen similar infections that are also highly damaging. In fact only Pentecost remains mostly pure, partially because we really don’t celebrate it much at all. So, has the damage to All Saint’s Day really caused it to fall so deeply that it can “no longer get up”? We believe this feast can be reclaimed but only if we as a Church are willing to take drastic measures. So what do we know of these feast days and what can we do to help us overcome this scourge?

1. The day (and evening) before this feast day is correctly called “devil’s night” because he does indeed seem to have taken away all meaning of the feast. And as few in our modern faith seem willing to call evil for what it is (that is they “suppose it holy”), perhaps we can fast the day before and afflict ourselves as our great saints were afflicted for their faith. This way we, as a body, can taste a little of the persecution they suffered. After all, do we really think those early Catholic missionaries who remained steadfast to our Church in these Druid homelands fared much better than the war criminals the Druids caught?

2. We can keep a vigil to await the end of the fast (as we also wait upon the return of the L-rd). And as the fast ends, blow a trumpet to sound the beginning of a great feast (like the wedding feast form our L-rd’s return). This great feast should be vegetarian because meats are harder to digest after fasting. We can set this in our own homes or better yet, we can gather as a community in the church hall. But how to separate this feast from the other parties?

a. Since all those who died in our L-rd are going to the wedding feast, might we create our feast to resemble the wedding feast of the Lamb? We can decorate each table with a white cloth and have white flowers mixed with palms (representing victory) as well. Colors of our dress could have white (victory) and blue (representing the Holy Spirit). Have a white cake (with sprinkles?) that speaks of the saints that gave their lives for us. We might also see if we can find some special foods for a special occasion. We also can have music at this celebration, possibly songs about martyrdom (ex. "Faith of our Fathers") or praise songs to our L-rd.

b. We know that all children cannot keep a fast (whether a whole day or partial) so we might be able to set aside a special place for them (maybe with those cooking and fixing the feast) where they could get their regular meals while the other adults in the community keep the fast. Another possibility (drawn from our experience during the Pesach Seder) is to have some finger foods available for the children who have trouble waiting as the evening goes on. This fast would help us mimic the feeling of the persecution of these great saints who suffered for the faith.

3. All Saints is not a single evening but really an eight-day holiday (an octave); so how might we make these feast last eight full days? At Chanukah we have the chunakiah (a menorah) where a light is lit for each day of the feast; and at Pesach we remove hamatz (leavening) from homes and eat unleavened foods throughout these days. Also we remember the Omer by counting it, but how would we connect the eight days we are to remember to those who died for our faith?

a. Local churches might sponsor special events during this week surrounding the lives of saints. This could include movies, plays or activities (your imagination is the limit). Whether this is done as a community or at home, but hopefully there would be one big event for the last day to close the octave.

b. Because this resembles a Catholic version of Succos, we may be able to borrow ideas from our brethren in their celebration of Succos. We suggest this because Succos has many Messianic overtones as does the Octave of All Saints; therefore we might be able to dwell in tents or keep a torch (or other light) burning or incorporate a mixing of water and wine was done during the ancient Temple service (this prefigured part of our Eucharist).

We admit that most of our ideas reflect back to our Jewish roots that Adonai has called to be kept, but this doesn’t mean this is the only route to take. What is most important is that we keep our focus and celebration upon our L-rd and what our Church has called in reflection towards Him. This why we teach both traditions, it gives ideas for both so that we can get the greatest meaning from the feast of our faith and also the tools to defend our Catholic faith. Thus, when told that we as Catholics celebrate the pagan holiday of Halloween, we can correct them because we have facts and also show them that we as a Church celebrate the Feast of All Saints, an Octave feast (eight day) where we remember all those great people whose blood made our faith possible. Who knows, this may give the opportunity to witness how Catholics truly follow G-d and may even allow us to invite them to our festivities.

by C.Foegen © 2001 HOME