A History of Halloween

De Maria | 10/31/2015

Since today is Halloween, I thought you might be interested in what it means and where it came from.

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Halloween is a conjunction of two archaic English terms, "hallow" and "e'en". Hallow means "holy" and "e'en is the contraction for "evening". Together they mean "holy eve" or the "eve of the Holies or Saints."

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Halloween began as the Catholic holy day of obligation known as All Saints Day. It is, in fact, the "eve" of the same day. You know how we celebrate "Christmas Eve"? And you know how we celebrate Sunday Mass beginning with the evening Mass on Saturday? It's the same principal.

October 31 is the Eve of All Saints Day and you can go to Mass on that evening which will count for the obligation of going to Mass on November 1st.

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Halloween is the day that Catholics celebrate the Communion of Saints. We celebrate the fact that God has surrounded us with a cloud of witnesses who pray for us and intercede for us in heaven.

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Originally, on Halloween, one group of people would dress as Saints, another as demons. And when the Saints came marching in, the demons would flee.

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Somewhere along the line, non-Catholics got that confused and they seem to celebrate the existence of the demons, exclusively, now.

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But if you're Catholic, you can still celebrate an authentic Halloween, by attending the Mass and praying their intercession on that day.

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And remember to visit a cemetery and pray for "All Souls" on the next day, Nov 2nd.

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About the Author

De Maria

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My name is not, De Maria. But De Maria is who I am. About 30 years ago, the internet was new. And many of us, including my wife and I, considered it the Beast of Revelations. Therefore, we stayed off of it. But, one day, after experiencing a very powerful conversion back to the Catholic Church and the Spirit, being strong within me, made me yearn to teach the Faith. Little did I know, how little I knew about the Faith I practiced.

Becoming a Catechism teacher took me back to the days when I was young and hungry for knowledge. But in those days, no one wanted to be bothered answering my questions. And I believe that is one of the reasons why I fell away. No one could explain the Faith to me in a manner that was satisfactory. I didn't want to be that type of Catechist. I wanted to understand so that I could pass on my understanding. But it soon became obvious to me, that I didn't understand very much at all.

Then, one day, someone said, "why don't you ask for explanations on the Internet? There are lots of knowledgeable people there." So, I investigated. And, thanks be to God, I found a now defunct website for Catechists. I learned so much from them. I can't ever repay them.

But, back to my pen name, De Maria. Back then, most of us distrusted the Internet. And this forum for Catechists did not permit us to use our real names. They required pen names. So, since I love Our Lady, I took her name. (I am a guy, by the way.) In the grand tradition of male Saints who have adopted Our Lady's name, for instance, St. Louis "Marie" de Montfort and St. Alphonsus "Marie" de Liquori. And that's who I am. I believe that I belong to Mary and that I am sent by her to preach about her Son.

Besides this website, I have two more. Washed, justified and sanctified in the Sacraments of the Catholic Church and CatholicBibleTalk.