Father Behr writes:

Dear Parishioners

Halloween

As you know, Halloween on 31 October means the ‘eve of the holy’, the vigil of the feast of All Saints, celebrated on 1 November, when we ask all the people who have entered Heaven to pray for us. Special Masses were also offered on the vigil so Halloween was a holy day as well.

2 November is All Souls Day, when we pray for the Holy Souls in Purgatory and all throughout that month.

We owe the celebration of these feasts at this time of the year to a pope and an abbot of the 8^th and 9^th centuries.

Masses were offered for the dead on All Souls Day and, in the Middle Ages particularly, when plagues were dreaded, people began to concentrate more on their own death and the death of loved ones around this time, – hence the skeletons, ghouls and scary stuff in general … visiting the graves of loved ones was common across Europe.

In Europe too, the custom of ‘souling’ grew up. Special cakes were baked called soul cakes, and on All Saints and All Souls day children went from house to house promising prayers for the deceased of the households in exchange for a cake. Here we can see the origins of Trick or Treat. Sometimes a song was sung outside the house, (rather like carolling at Christmas). Candles or lanterns were carried and sometimes the children dressed up as souls in purgatory. Most likely, then as now, in rather scary costumes!

So, as Catholics, let’s enjoy these wonderful feasts of the Church, asking the Saints to pray for us, and remembering to pray and have Holy Mass offered for the souls in Purgatory to help them on their way to Heaven.

If you would like to listen to a podcast with more detail on the origins of Halloween, please visit

https://www.churchpop.com/2019/10/29/the-true-origins-of-halloween-are-actually-deeply-catholic/