Halloween or All Saints Day?

It seems each year that Halloween becomes a bigger and badder (if you’ll excuse the bad grammar) holiday.  So where exactly did Halloween come from?  If you go back a quite a few centuries, you’ll find that the church would celebrate saints who had died.  These might be martyrs to the faith or others who had distinguished themselves in service to the Lord.  The day of celebration was called All Saints Day or All Hallows Day.

Halloween or All Hallows Eve is the night before.  Ostensibly, this is the night when evil spirits might have their bad day before the Saints have their good day.

What do we make of all this?  Some churches still celebrate All Saints Day – Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and others.  Nowadays, most churches do not venerate long dead Christians.  However, it’s not wrong to remember and appreciate the many faithful servants of our Lord. 

Halloween might be a greater spectacle – especially in some of the overly garish and ghoulish decorations we see in our neighborhoods.  But remembering the many Christians who proclaimed the Good News and lived faithful lives might be a better use of our time and efforts. 

Enjoy the evening. Give candy to the kids who come to your door.  But remember that we follow the God of light and goodness.  And therein lies our hope and salvation.