#Allsaintstide

[mask131]

Deadly fall: All Hallows Day

ALL HALLOWS DAY

Category: Christian belief

Everybody knows about All Hallows Eve, what would later became Halloween… But who knows about All Hallows Day?

All Hallows’ Day is the ancient name of the holiday known as today as All Saints Day, also called the Feast of All Saints/Feast of All Hallows/Hallowmass, a Christian celebration of the saints. ALL of the saints, as the name indicates: living or dead, known or unknown, this day is their day. [Note: I will only here talk about Western Christianity, aka Catholic Christianity + Protestants, as the Orthodox Church does things quite differently].

The roots of All Saints Day can be traced back to the 4th century, when several national churches started to organize a day in which the martyrs (saints that died for their belief) were honored – but there was not a set date and everyone had a different celebration. But as the centuries passed by, the date of the 13th of May was chosen, and the celebration extended to all saints, not just the martyrs – until it was made official in Rome in 609-610 by Pope Boniface IV, when he consecrated the Roman Pantheon to the Virgin Mary and all the saints on the 13th of May, resulting in the anniversary of this consecration becoming a day of celebration for the Virgin Mary and all the saints. But by the 9th century, churches of England, Ireland and Germany started celebrating all the saints on the 1st of November, a tradition that slowly entered the Frankish kingdom (basically a large kingdom covering most of Western Europe, from France to Germany and later became the Holy Roman Empire) – in fact it was the Frankish Emperor “Louis the Pious” who, with the help of Pope Gregory IV, made All Saints Day the official celebration of the 1st of November. The holiday became so popular that people started to forget about the 13th of May, but we had to wait until the 12th century for the 13th to be officially “deleted”, and replaced by November 1st.

Now while the Catholic Church had a fixed date, the Protestants decided to mix things up and have their own date. At first it was quite complicated: for example some Lutheran churches, such as the Church of Sweden, said that All Saint’s Day would be the Saturday between October 31st and November 6th, while the Anglican Church of England rather went for either the 1st of November, or the Sunday between October 30th and November 5th ; and other Lutheran churches rather went for the first Sunday of November. But the common idea spread around ultimately was that All Saints Day should be celebrated the Sunday following the anniversary of the Reformation (which took place on October 31st – resulting in All Saints Day being the Sunday following October 31st, or October 31st if it is a Sunday).

It should be noted that, due to the Protestants not having the same relationship to saints as Catholics, their conception of All Saints Day is not the one implied by the name: Protestant Hallowmass is rather of celebration of all the Christians, living or dead: the saints are still remembered, but so are remembered other famous Christians, and the deceased members of a local congregation. This led to it becoming a general commemoration of the dead, with a special care given to the dead members of the local congregation, for which candles will be lit, bells tolled, and names read – with an emphasis on the victory of Christ over death through his resurrection.

And Catholic Christianity, while keeping All Saints’ Day as a day for the saints, also started through time to make Hallowmass a general celebration of the dead, and a commemoration of the deceased. Why? Because of a popular confusion around the Hallowtide.

In Catholic belief, All Hallows Day is part of a “season” called Allhallowtide, Hallowmass season or Hallowtide (Allsaintstide if you want to modernize it). This season begins on the 31st of October, called All Hallows’ Eve (which would later evolve into Halloween). Follows the 1st of November, All Hallows Day/All Saints Day. And the season is closed by the 2nd of November, All Souls’ Day. All Souls’ Day is the “commemoration of all faithful departed”, aka what the Protestants made of All Hallows Day: All Souls’ Day is the day where you honor all faithful Christians who died. It was a celebration of the dead when families would visit their ancestor’s graves to place flowers and candle. BUT… due to the closeness of All Saints Day and All Souls Day, and the fact the latter was less known to the general public, slowly the two celebration began to fuse together – resulting in most people nowadays treating All Saints Day as the “Christian day of the dead”, and celebrating there all the deceased (even though the Church still tries to separate the two holidays).

In modern days, each European country has its own traditional celebrations for the 1st of November. In Austria and Germany for example, godparents are supposed to give their godchildren something called “Allerheiligenstriezel” (All Saints’ Braid), a special type of pastry – in Germany All Saints Day (Allerheiligen) is also considered a “silent day” (stiller Tag) when public entertainments are only allowed if they are just as serious as the holiday. In many countries, from Spain to Poland, families visit their graves to place candles and flowers on them, and the family gathers together for meals. In France, All Saints’ Day (Toussaint) is honored by putting crowns and wreaths of chrysanthemums in cemeteries, and by eating a dish called “crêpes”. In ancient times, French tradition also had the local priests leading processions around the graveyards to bless the tombs around All Souls’ Day.

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An interesting thing to talk about is the “souling” tradition. It is a tradition that started in England for All Souls Day: souling is the practice of having children or poor men gather in bands, to go door-to-door begging for money, apples, ale or cakes, usually through lamenting song. This tradition notably lead to the creation of “soul-cakes”, special cakes baked for the souling beggars of All Souls’ Day. Due to the confusion of the Hallowtide, the souling tradition also extended to All Hallows Day, and All Hallows Eve, and it was the ancestor of the modern trick-or-treating: for example, some “soulers” carried around a lantern made of an hollowed-out turnip, but the candle was supposed to represent their souls trapped in an earthly purgatory of which the generosity of people would free them ; and sometimes children would go souling with a disguise, but only disguising themselves as famous saints, or to represent the spirit of deceased Christians.

And it might surprise you to learn that the “souling” tradition is still alive in several countries of Europe, one of which being Portugal! Their form of souling is called “Pão-por-Deus” (Bread for God), when children and youth gather on All Saints Day to knock on doors and visit stores, so that adults would give them chocolate, candy, nuts, fruits or money. These begging youth also tend to receive special cakes, “caspiada” shaped like skulls, or broas (bread-like cake with anise and nuts in it).

Another very interesting thing to note is that All Saints Day, like many Christian holidays, was created to “block” and “replace” pagan holidays: the original day of the celebration, the 13th of May, was the one of the Roman Lemuria, a time when Ancient Romans appeased the malevolent spirits of the dead ; while the new date imposed by Irish/English/German churches, 1st of November, fits with the ancient Celtic celebration of Samhain (which later survived by taking over All Hallows’ Eve as Halloween).

[doubtspirit]

[desanctii]

What is your favorite holiday?

“Samhain. Or else the Allhallowtide. Allsaintstide. Hallowmas. Whatever name you prefer.”

[ronk]

Allhallowtide

This ending and beginning in a triduum:

All Hallows’ Eve, then All Saints’ Day,

All Souls’ Day, time when the veil

thins between our world and afterlife – this

time of the season to remember the dead.

All Souls’ Day, J Schikaneder 1888