What does Halloween represent?
First of all Halloween. The word Hallow means holy, regard as sacred; or consecrate.
The name Halloween comes from the 1500’s, & is a variation on All-Hallows-Even, the night before All Saints Day, or All Hallows Day. As with many things, the Catholic Church had a holiday to correspond with an ethnic festivity. To the Catholic’s credit, however, the Feast of All Saints was declared by Pope Gregory III (in the 700’s) & is talked about as early as 700 or 701. The festival actually became a reality & November 1 is the reported date of the Feast of All Saints, though some scholar contend that the original Feast of All Saints took place in April, and that the church changed it to coincide with the festival of Samhain to try to win the Celts over to Catholicism.
Halloween Costume Ideas
Halloween (Hallowe’en, Hallowtide, Hallowmas, Allhallow-even) is short for “All Hallows Even” which means “All Saints Eve”. It is the eve before All Saints Day, a Catholic day to honor all the saints who do not already have a feast day of their own. All Saints Day was originally celebrated on May 13 when Pope Boniface IV rededicated the Pantheon in Rome to ‘St. Mary and All Martyrs’ in 609 A.D. It was moved to November 1 in the 8th century when Pope Gregory III dedicated St. Peter’s Basilica to all the saints. In the 10th century A.D. All Souls Day was added as a day to pray for the souls in purgatory and attend a requiem mass to honor the Christian dead. Folk customs surrounding All Souls are the origin of the belief that the dead return on Halloween. People would visit cemeteries, decorate relatives’ graves, and leave food offerings for the dead. Pagan Roman customs may have influenced the practice of offering food to the dead. During Parentalia and Feralia, which were celebrated in