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As the influence of Christianity spread into Celtic lands, in the
7th century, Pope Boniface IV introduced All Saints'
Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs, to replace
the old pagan festival of the dead. It was observed on May 13.
In 834, Gregory III moved All Saint's Day from May 13 to Nov. 1
and for Christians, this became an opportunity for remembering before
God all the saints who had died and all the dead in the Christian
community. Oct. 31 thus became All Hallows' Eve
('hallow' means 'saint'). Halloween and All Saints Day, however,
have always been two distintively different traditions. All Saints
Day is celebrated as a day of prayer to God. It has been instituted
by the Church to honour all the saints, known and unknown, and,
according to Urban IV, to supply any deficiencies in the faithful's
celebration of saints' feasts during the year.
In old England, cakes were made for the wandering souls, and people
went "a' soulin'" for these "soul cakes". Halloween,
a time of magic, also became a day of divination, with a host of
magical beliefs: for instance, if persons hold a mirror on Halloween
and walk backwards down the stairs to the basement, the face that
appears in the mirror will be their next lover.
Virtually all present Halloween traditions can be traced to the
ancient Celtic day of the dead. Halloween is a holiday of many mysterious
customs, but each one has a history, or at least a story behind
it. The wearing of costumes, for instance, and roaming from door
to door demanding treats can be traced to the Celtic period and
the first few centuries of the Christian era, when it was thought
that the souls of the dead were out and around, along with fairies,
witches, and demons. Offerings of food and drink were left out to
placate them. As the centuries wore on, people began dressing like
these dreadful creatures, performing antics in exchange for food
and drink. This practice is called mumming, although the similar
American practice of trick-or-treating appears to have evolved independently.
To this day, witches, ghosts, and skeleton figures of the dead are
among the favorite disguises. Halloween also retains some features
that hearken back to the original harvest holiday of Samhain, such
as the customs of bobbing for apples and carving vegetables, as
well as the fruits, nuts, and spiced cider associated with the day.
*source: Wikipedia
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