WHAT DOES THE WORD "HALLOWEEN" MEAN?
The first records of the word Halloween come from around the 1550s. Halloween is sometimes spelled Hallowe’en, reflecting the fact that its name comes from a shortening of Allhallows Even. Allhallows is another name for the Christian holiday known as All Saints’ Day. In Allhallows Even, even means the same thing as eve—the evening or day before a holiday (as in Christmas Eve). The word hallow is used in reference to the saints—hallowed means “holy.”
WHAT IS ALL SAINTS’ DAY?
All Saints’ Day is a Christian holiday on November 1 in honor of all the saints. For Catholics, it’s often considered a holy day of obligation in which they are obligated to attend Mass (meaning that many Catholic school students know the day after Halloween as a day off from school). The day after, November 2, is All Souls’ Day—a Christian holiday of solemn prayer for all dead persons.
Like many Christian holidays, the observance of All Saints’ Day—and its date—are thought to have been influenced by preexisting religious traditions. Many historians believe that the observance of All Saints’ Day was situated on November 1 in Britain and Ireland to coincide with (or replace) the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain.
WHAT IS SAMHAIN?
Samhain, pronounced [ sah-win ] is an ancient Celtic harvest festival in celebration of the beginning of winter and a new year.
It was celebrated by the ancient Celtic inhabitants of the British Isles on or around November 1, which the Celts considered the start of winter and the year. Some scholars believe the word Samhain means “summer’s end.”
Among the ancient Celts, it was a time of year when it was believed that the threshold of the spirit world was opened for spirits to pass through and haunt the living. People marked the occasion by lighting bonfires for protection and dressing as the spirits and creatures they believed could cross over that night.
From Dictionary.com
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