Happy Halloween!

Hallow e’en

As many of us are aware 31^st of October is Halloween, a time when it has become customary to dress up as witches and scary things and more recently ‘trick or treat’.

The festival has it’s origins in the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian feast of All Saints' Day which is on 1^st November. (Hallow is an old word for ‘saint’ or ‘blessed’, e’en a version of eve). In Celtic lore Samhain was an end to the harvest, and a start to the dark winter months when nature died back and it was believed that the line between life and death could be crossed. Dressing up was seen as likely to appease evil spirits.

 In the 8^th century Pope Gregory III officially decreed that All Saints day should be celebrated on 1^st November, although it had been in common practice before that. In Catholic countries 1^st November is a ‘day of obligation’, when attendance at Mass is required.

In much of Spain it is traditional to eat ‘huesos de santos’ – literally saint’s bones – a sweet confection of marzipan and egg yolk.

On 2 November – All Souls day – in many Catholic countries in the old and new worlds, families visit their graves taking flowers.