All Saints' Day
According to a 2015 Harris Poll, Halloween is the third favourite holiday of Americans, after Christmas and Thanksgiving. And while the money Americans spend at Halloween is dwarfed by many other holidays (including Easter, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, and Father's Day), it is still a considerable amount. In 2015 American spent $6.9 billion on Halloween. $2.5 billion of that was on costumes and $2.1 billion was spent on candy. While for many years the secular celebration of Halloween was limited to North America, it has since spread elsewhere in the English speaking world. In the United Kingdom £310 million was spent on Halloween in 2015.
While many of the traditions associated with the modern day celebration of Halloween developed recently, the holiday itself is rather hold. Strictly speaking, Halloween is the eve of All Hallows' Day, better known in modern English as All Saints' Day. It was early in the development of Christianity that the church began honouring martyrs on the dates they died. Over the centuries the number of individual martyrs grew so great that a feast day could not be assigned to each and every one. All Saints' Day then developed as a means of honouring all martyrs.
Days commemorating all saints were not unknown before the establishment of All Saint's Day. In the early 4th Century the church in Antioch observed a day for all of the martyrs on the Sunday after Pentecost. It was also in the 4th Century St. Ephrem the Syrian wrote of a feast for all saints observed by the church in Edessa on May 13. In the 5th Century St. John Chrysostom mentioned that the church in Constantinople observed a common day for saints on the Sunday after Pentecost. It was in 609 CE that Pope Boniface IV consecrated the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels and the Martyrs on May 13. The anniversary of the dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels and the Martyrs would continue to be observed in Rome, as well as in many other parts of Europe and Asia.
While the anniversary of the dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels and the Martyrs would serve as a common day for martyrs throughout much of the early church, the dates of common days for all the martyrs would vary from place to place for years. Many churches in the East continued to observe the Sunday after Pentecost as a feast day for all the martyrs. According to Saint Óengus of Tallaght, in the 7th and 8th Centuries the church in Ireland celebrated All Saints' Day on April 20. Churches in England and Germany were already observing All Saints' Day on November 1 by the beginning of the 8th Century if the Homiliae Subdititiae, falsely ascribed to Bede is to be believed. It was in the mid-eighth century that Pope Gregory III established November 1 officially as All Saints' Day.
Pagan Autumn Festivals
The date of November 1 coincided with a Celtic festival that marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. Among the Cornish Kalan Gwav was the first day of winter. Its eve, Nos Kalan Gwav (October 31), in historical times was observed as St. Allan's Day or Allantide. The Irish, Manx, and Scots also had a festival on November 1, called in Modern Irish Samhain, in Scottish Gaelic Samhainn, and in Manx Sauin. In Wales November 1 was observed as Calan Gaeaf, the first day of winter.
Very little is known for certain as to how ancient pagan Celts might have celebrated these festivals, although Irish mythology provides us with some hints. The myth Serglige Con Culainn ("Cúchulainn's Sickbed") tells how a festival held by the Ulaid lasted three days before Samhain and three days after (which including Samhain itself would be a full seven days). There were games, assemblies, and feasts.The story Macgnímartha Finn ("The Boyhood Deeds of Fionn) states the sídhe (the mounds that were home to the Aos Sí, a supernatural race comparable to the elves of the Germanic peoples or the modern day conception of fairies) were always open on Samhain. The Lebor Gabála Érenn ("Book of Invasions") suggests sacrifices may have taken place at Samhain. Every Samhain the folk of Nemed had to give two thirds of their children, grain, and milk to the Formorians (a supernatural, giant race). Both the Dindsenchas and the Annála Ríoghachta Éireann ("Annals of the Four Masters") claim that a first born child would be sacrificed to the god Crom Cruach in Magh Slécht.
While November 1 was the date of festivals celebrated by the various Celtic peoples, it does not explain why the English and Germans celebrated All Saints' Day on November 1 or why Pope Gregory chose November 1 as its official date. That having been said, it some of the Germanic peoples had a festival that fell in October and it seems possible some of the other Germanic peoples might have celebrated it as well. Icelandic sources attest vetrnætr (literally "Winter Nights"), which An Icelandic-English Dictionary by Richard Cleasby and Gudbrand Vigfusson defines as "the three days which begin the winter season." Such sources as the Fornmanna Sögur and Gísla saga Súrssonar attest that sacrifices took place at Winter Nights. Feasting also took place over the three days of Winter Nights, as shown by Eyrbyggja Saga and Gísla saga Súrssonar. The dates during which Winter Nights were celebrated varied a bit from year. According to our modern calendar, the festival would have roughly taken place in mid-October.
It seems possible that, like the Old Norse speakers, other Germanic peoples also celebrated the beginning of winter. In his treatise De temporum ratione, Bede mentions that the Angles and Saxons in England called the month when winter began Winterfylleþ, which he interpreted as "Winter full moon", because winter began on the full moon of that month. According to Bede, Winterfylleþ was followed by a month called Blótmónaþ, literally "sacrifice month." He states that it was the month during which cattle to be slaughtered were dedicated to the gods. The Menologium seu Calendarium Poeticum, an Old English poem about the months, equates Blótmónaþ with November. Given the Angles and Saxons also thought of winter as beginning in autumn and apparently made sacrifices during that period too, it seems possible that they might have celebrated the beginning of winter much as the Old Norse speakers did.
Given the Angles and Saxons originated on the Continent, it would seem likely that the Germanic peoples there would have also thought of winter as beginning in autumn. Unfortunately, there appears to be no Continental equivalent to Winterfylleþ, although they appear to have a month name that was equivalent to Blótmónaþ. Early modern Dutch attests an alternative name for November, Slachtmaand, literally "slaughter month". This alternative name for November is also seen in West Frisian, Slachtmoanne, again literally "slaughter month". While both month names may simply reference the fact that cattle were slaughtered in November, it also seems possible that they could contain memories of when they were also sacrificed to the gods, much as the Angles and Saxons in England did.
Of course, beyond Bede's statement that the Angles and Saxons regarded Winter as beginning during the full moon of Winterfylleþ, we have no clear cut dates as to when they might have celebrated the beginning of winter or made sacrifices. Given the fact that England (and the Continent, for that matter) tends to be a warmer climate than Iceland and Scandinavia, it seems possible that they might have regarded winter as beginning a little bit later than the Old Norse speakers. This could go a long way to explaining why churches in England and Germany chose to celebrate All Saints' Day on November 1. It would place the Christian festival close to a pagan festival once celebrated in England. It could also explain why Pope Gregory chose November 1 as the official date for All Saints' Day. It would seem to make more sense than Pope Gregory having chose the date for Samhain. Indeed, as pointed out above, prior to Pope Gregory making November 1 the official date, All Saints' Day was celebrated on April 20 in Ireland.
While the Celtic peoples celebrated a festival around the time of what would be All Saints' Day and it seems likely that Angles and Saxons in England did as well, it is difficult to say how much impact any of these festivals might have had on later celebrations of Halloween. Certainly the idea of Halloween as a time when the boundaries between worlds became more flexible could stem from the Celtic festival variously called Samhain, Kalan Gwav, and so on. As mentioned above, the Irish apparently believed the mounds of the Aos Sí were open on Samhain. It seems possible that the Angles and Saxons may have held similar beliefs about the beginning of winter, although there is little to suggest this. Regardless, many of the customs we observe at Halloween today are not attested until much later. For example, as much as many would like to trace trick or treating back to earlier traditions, from all appearances it is a modern day development. Regardless, it seems likely that the fact that pagan festivals were celebrated in the British Isles and on the Continent around November 1 were much of what led Pope Gregory to set that as the official date of All Saints' Day.
All Souls' Day
Prayers for the dead were established as a tradition very early in the history of Christianity. As early as the 3d Century CE, Roman Christians offered up prayers for the dead in the catacombs. In the Sixth Century CE, Pope Gregory offered masses for the souls in Purgatory. It was also in the 6th Century that Benedictine monasteries set aside a day each year to pray for their members who had died and gone to Purgatory. In the 7th Century CE in Spain the first Saturday following Pentecost was set aside for praying for the dead. It was in the 10th Century in Germany that October 1 was established as a common day for praying for the dead. It was Saint Odilo of Cluny who established November 2 as the day for commemorating the dead at the Abbey of Cluny and those monasteries connected to it. The date of November 2 for All Souls' Day was adopted by other Benedictine monasteries and then spread to churches throughout Europe.
Over time All Souls' Day would develop its own traditions. One common to most countries in Europe were the ringing of bells in memory of the dead. In the book British Popular Customs, Present and Past: Illustrating the Social and Domestic Manners of the People: Arranged According to the Calendar of the Year by Thomas Firminger and Thiselton Dyer, it mentions a custom in Wexford, Ireland, whereby a candle would be placed in every window of a house on the night of All Souls' Day.
Perhaps the best known custom associated with All Souls' Day was that of "souling". Souling was a tradition whereby children would go from house to house asking for "soul cakes" in exchange for prayers for the dead. Soul cakes were generally made of sweet spices such as allspice, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and so on. The custom is attested fairly early. In his Book of Festivals, also known as Festial, John Mirk wrote "...wherefore in olden time good men and women would this day buy bread and deal it for the souls they loved, hoping each loaf to get a soul out of purgatory." Festial dates to the 1380s. It is also referenced in William Shakespeare's Two Gentleman of Verona, Act II, Scene I, "..to speak puling, like a beggar at Hallowmas." Here one might be tempted to see souling as the direct ancestor of modern day trick or treating, but there seems to be no link between the two. A direct line cannot be traced from souling in medieval Britain to trick or treating in 20th Century North America.
Over time the traditions of All Souls' Day would become conflated with those of Halloween and All Saints' Day. In John Aubrey's Miscellanies, published in 1714, he tells how soul cakes were heaped upon each other on All Hallows Eve and how every visitor was expected to take one. In Curiosities of Popular Customs ... Illustrated by William Shepard Walsh, published in 1897, told how in Ripon, Yorkshire Halloween was known as "Cake Night" and women there would make a cake for every member of their families. Indeed, in Two Gentelman of Verona, Shakespeare speaks of "a beggar at Hallowmas", rather than "a beggar at All Souls' Day."
The conflation of "All Souls' Day" with "All Saints' Day" and its eve would have an impact on the development on Halloween. If Halloween wasn't already a night for the dead, it would have eventually become one.
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