1681 All Hallows' Eve

November 1 is All Saints' Day on the Christian calendar, and the day before is All Hallows' Eve, or Halloween. However, it didn't start out as a Christian holy day. The early Christian missionaries who spread through Europe didn't try to eradicate the local religions, but rather just folded them into their own. All major Christian holidays have pagan roots, or Christianized roots, if you prefer. Christmas and Easter with all the strange symbols like trees, yule logs, bunnies and colored eggs are pagan in their symbols, but not in the current meaning. So when Christians complain about consumerism and the "real meaning" they should understand that way, way back, it was about worshiping something other than the one, true God. When secularists try to take a Christmas tree out of the public square, I wonder if they have any concept that they are kicking out their own!

Nevertheless, there is a lovely tale about Halloween and its beginnings among the Celts who used to be all over Europe at this well written site by Jack Santino.

"Halloween had its beginnings in an ancient, pre-Christian Celtic festival of the dead. The Celtic peoples, who were once found all over Europe, divided the year by four major holidays. According to their calendar, the year began on a day corresponding to November 1st on our present calendar. The date marked the beginning of winter. Since they were pastoral people, it was a time when cattle and sheep had to be moved to closer pastures and all livestock had to be secured for the winter months. Crops were harvested and stored. The date marked both an ending and a beginning in an eternal cycle."