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All Saint's Day Ideas
Date: November 1
The celebration of All Saints Day in the
western world, is held on November 1, and is followed by All Souls Day
on November 2. It is also known as All Hallow Day or All Hallowsmas,
with Hallow meaning "holy" and the mas for "mass". Essentially, it is
a day dedicated to honoring all the Saints together, thus the name.
Although ceremonies were held as early
as the 4th century in various churches, the martyrs who were being
honored, did not become part of a common practice until the Eastern
Orthodox celebrations at Antioch several decades later. Their
ceremonies were held on the Sunday after Pentecost, a tradition still
practiced by that church.
It appears to be Germany who entrenched the day as November 1, with
the practice spreading throughout Europe, until Pope Gregory made it
official in the mid 8th century. On that day he declared that the
chapel in St. Peter's dedicated to the bones and relics of martyrs and
saints, had been consecrated Nov.1, and from thence forward it would
be a yearly celebration of both the consecration and the saints.
But of course, children know it better as the day after Halloween,
which is the evening before All Hallow's Day, or All Saints Day. On
that night, the dead are said to rise again, and seek a body to enter
so that they might return to Earth. While Halloween traditionally has
people scaring the spirits off with masks and disguises, in many
cultures the dead, saints and otherwise, are honored with food,
flowers and candles on their graves.
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