All Hallow’s Eve

Thanks to my friend Jim De Piante for putting together this fact list about All Hallow’s Eve (Halloween):

1. Halloween is an English language contraction for All Hallows Evening.
2. It literally means the Eve, or Holy Vigil of All Hallows Day, or All Saints Day.
3. The term came into being in the very earliest form of the English language.
4. When the word “Halloween” came into being, the term All Saints Day did not yet exist.
5. In English, at the time, the term was “All Hallows” day.
6. The term “Halloween” was in use by 1300.
7. This was approximately 300 years before Protestantism.
8. This was 200 years before Columbus sailed.
9. This was 500 years before there was a country called the United States.
10. There is no way the term is Protestant or American.
11. The Church has always encouraged secular observances of holy times.
12. We are not restricted to only do explicitly holy things to observe holy times.
13. What other people do that is a perversion of a holy time does not change the inherent holiness of the holy time.
14. Begging treats has various pedigrees. Yes, there were soul cakes, but there were other Catholic customs as well wherein children went to their neighbors homes to beg treats.
15. There is no association between Halloween and Samhain other than coincidental.
16. There is no association between Halloween and any pagan feast other than coincidental.
17. The fact that pagans do a thing does not illegitimate anyone else doing it.
18. There is very little about Halloween that is not 100% Catholic in its origins.
19. Samhain is a harvest festival. That is why it comes on October 31st.
20. There is no historical evidence to support the assertion that Halloween practices (such as jack-o-lanterns or dressing in costumes) came from Samhain.
21. There is no historical evidence supporting the assertion that Samhain was a widespread Celtic festival.
22. There is no historical evidence that Samhain involved religious ceremonies, even where it was observed.
23. Essentially all of the customs associated with both Catholic and secular observances of Halloween have developed in the last 500 years and have no possible religious connection with Samhain.
24. The word ‘Samhain’ literally means “summer’s end”.
25. Samhain marked the end of summer and kicked off the Celtic new year.
26. Samhain was much like our modern New Year’s celebration but with a harvest day flavor.
27. The month of November is translated in Irish as ‘Samhain’. The Irish for Halloween is Oíche Shamhna, which means the eve of Samhain.
28. Certain harmless practices remain in Irish culture that we refer to as pagan because they were of pre Christian origin.
29. That fact that something was done in pre-Christian times does not make it wrong, sinful, anti-Christian or unchristian.
30. The Feast of All Hallows was first established in the 4th Century when groups of Martyrs were commemorated.
31. The Feast gained wider observance in 609 when the Pantheon was dedicated as the Catholic Church or Our Lady of the Martyrs.
32. The original feast was May 13.
33. The Chapel of All the Saints inside of Saint Peters was dedicated on November 11 and the Feast of All Hallows was moved to that date.
34. That date was chosen because it was after the harvest, allowing more people to participate.
35. The date was also chosen so as to reflect the harvest of Souls.
36. Samhain was not established until long after the dedication of the Chapel.
37. The coincidence with Samhain is simply because both coincide with the harvest.
38. There is nothing protestant about Halloween. Protestants detested Halloween from the beginning.
39. The Puritans banned Halloween in the Colonies, just like they banned Christmas.
40. The vitriol around Halloween comes largely from the anti-Catholic bigot, Jack Chick.
41. We rightly condemn evil that is done in the name of Halloween.
42. But it is a foolish mistake to say that we Catholics do not or should not celebrate Halloween.
43. We should celebrate Halloween –in holy ways, but we are free to do so also in wholesome secular ways.
44. The vast majority of the stories around the supposed evil around Halloween are unsubstantiated nonsense.
45. The supposed citations of celebrity exorcists have not been demonstrated to be true.
46. The ASPCA adamantly denies that they ban animal adoption over Halloween due to animal sacrifice.
47. The ASPCA does have a moratorium on adopting out black cats simply because they then always have to deal with getting these same cats back when the party is over.
48. Dressing as ghouls and ghosts was done for wholesome reasons.
49. There is nothing inherently wrong with it and it does not glorify Satan.