Neo-pagan websites claim that Halloween was an attempt by early Christians to “baptize” the Gaelic harvest festival of Samhain. Because of this persistent idea, some Christians are hesitant to participate in anything associated with Halloween. Brad Winsted of the Christian Broadcasting Network explains,
Even a cursory look at the origins of Halloween will reveal satanic rituals played out in trick and treating [sic], jack-o-lanterns, witches, ghosts, the dead, and on and on. If you’ve ever taken time to research any of these Halloween practices you’ll see the satanic background from the Celtic tribes of Scotland and Ireland.
But, like many other claims that Catholicism adopted pagan practices and beliefs, this myth is also based on bad research and propaganda that developed after the Protestant Reformation. Given the contempt of the reformers for the Catholic doctrine of Purgatory and prayers for the dead, this development is not surprising.
The desire of Christians to distance themselves from anything pagan can be seen in documents dating all the way back to the New Testament. It should not come as a surprise that even in our own time, Christians are cautious to adopt elements of pagan ritual. But do we need to throw the baby out with the bathwater?
From nearly the beginning of Christianity, it has been a customary practice to solemnize the anniversary of a martyr’s death. This was normally done at the church nearest the place where the martyrdom occurred. By the fourth century, neighboring churches had begun to celebrate common feasts.
According to the Original Catholic Encyclopedia, Pope “Gregory III (731-741) consecrated a chapel in the Basilica of St. Peter to all the saints and fixed the anniversary for 1 November.”
Although this date had become significant for the Christians in the West, it was not yet a universally recognized feast. Sixty years later, Pope Gregory IV commanded that All Saints be observed everywhere annually on the first day of November.
Evening vigils on the day before a feast or solemnity are customary in the Catholic Faith, and so Halloween falls on October 31 because it is the vigil before All Saints’ Day, and not because the Church wanted to “baptize” Samhain or any other pagan celebration.
Samhain was a festival that marked the beginning of winter in Ireland, but the historical evidence does not support the idea that it involved jack-o-lanterns, witches, ghosts, or religious ceremonies. In his book Stations of the Sun, historian Ronald Hutton explains:
The medieval records furnish no evidence that 1 November was a major pan-Celtic festival, and none of religious ceremonies, even where it was observed.
There are some folk tales where humans have dealings with deities or monsters that end or begin on Samhain, but as Hutton concludes,
their point cannot be proved from the tales themselves; it could just be that several narratives are started, set, or concluded at this feast because it represented an ideal context, being a major gathering of royalty and warriors with time on their hands.
Virtually all of the customs associated with the modern secular celebration of Halloween developed only in the past 500 years and have very few (if any) connections to ancient pagan religious practices.
What’s a Catholic to do? Although it is true that most of the customs practiced on Halloween here in the United States cannot be traced back to ancient pagan religions, this does not mean some of them are not problematic.
I would never have been comfortable with my daughter dressing up as a devil or a witch for Halloween, but I never had a problem allowing her to go trick-or-treating with her friends. Most of the time she wanted to dress as her favorite movie or cartoon character. I use the opportunity every year to tell her about the Catholic origins of Halloween.
My good friend Fr. Amaro Saumell used to open the parish hall on Halloween night and invite the children and their parents to come dressed as their favorite saints. I understand that this is popular in parishes throughout the country, and I think that is great.
As Catholics, the most important thing we need to remember is that Halloween is the vigil before a very important feast day, where we honor the saints in heaven, who dedicated their lives (and in many cases gave them up) to advance the cause of Christ and his Church.
All Saints, a feast of the highest rank, celebrated on the first of November, having a vigil and an octave, and giving place to no other feast. It is instituted to honor all the saints, known and unknown, and, according to Urban IV, to supply any deficiencies in the faithful’s celebration of saints’ feasts during the year.
In the early days the Christians were accustomed to solemnize the anniversary of a martyr’s death for Christ at the place of martyrdom. In the fourth century, neighboring dioceses began to interchange feasts, to transfer relics, to divide them, and to join in a common feast; as is shown by the invitation of St. Basil of Caesarea (397) to the bishops of the province of Pontus.
Frequently groups of martyrs suffered on the same day, which naturally led to a joint commemoration. In the persecution of Diocletian the number of martyrs became so great that a separate day could not be assigned to each. But the Church, feeling that every martyr should be venerated, appointed a common day for all.
The first trace of this we find in Antioch on the Sunday after Pentecost. We also find mention of a common day in a sermon of St. Ephrem the Syrian (373), and in the 74th homily of St. John Chrysostom (407). At first only martyrs and St. John the Baptist were honored by a special day. Other saints were added gradually, and increased in number when a regular process of canonization was established; still, as early as 411 there is in the Chaldean Calendar a “Cornmemoratio Confessorum” for the Friday after Easter.
In the West, Boniface IV, May 13, 609, or 610, consecrated the Pantheon in Rome to the Blessed Virgin and all the martyrs, ordering an anniversary. Gregory III (731-741) consecrated a chapel in the basilica of St. Peter to all the saints and fixed the anniversary for November 1. A basilica of the Apostles already existed in Rome, and its dedication was annually remembered on May 1.
Gregory IV (827-844) extended the celebration on November 1 to the entire Church. The vigil seems to have been held as early as the feast itself. The octave was added by Sixtus IV (1471-84).
All Souls’ Day .—The commemoration of all the faithful departed is celebrated by the Church on November 2, or, if this be a Sunday or a feast of the first class, on November 3. The Office of the Dead must be recited by the clergy and all the Masses are to be of Requiem, except one of the current feast, where this is of obligation.
The theological basis for the feast is the doctrine that the souls which, on departing from the body, are not perfectly cleansed from venial sins, or have not fully atoned for past transgressions, are debarred from the Beatific Vision, and that the faithful on earth can help them by prayers, alms, deeds and especially by the sacrifice of the Mass. In the early days of Christianity the names of the departed brethren were entered in the diptychs. Later, in the sixth century, it was customary in Benedictine monasteries to hold a commemoration of the deceased members at Whitsuntide.
In Spain there was such a day on Saturday before Sexagesima or before Pentecost, at the time of St. Isidore (d. 636). In Germany there existed (according to the testimony of Widukind, Abbot of Corvey, c 980) a time-honored ceremony of praying to the dead on October 1. This was accepted and sanctified by the Church.
St. Odilo of Cluny (d. 1048) ordered the commemoration of all the faithful departed to he held annually in the monasteries of his congregation. Thence it spread among the other congregations of the Benedictines and among the Carthusians. Of the dioceses, Liege was the first to adopt it under Bishop Notger (d. 1008). It is then found in the martyrology of St. Protadius of Besancon (1053-66). Bishop Otricus (1120-25) introduced it into Milan for the October 15. In Spain, Portugal, and Latin America, priests on this day say three Masses. A similar concession for the entire world was asked of Pope Leo XIII. He would not grant the favor but ordered a special Requiem on Sunday, September 30, 1888. In the Greek Rite this commemoration is held on the eve of Sexagesima Sunday, or on the eve of Pentecost. The Armenians celebrate the passover of the dead on the day after Easter.