Happy All Saints and Recent Hallowe’en !
What is “All Saints Day” in the Catholic church?
In a practice dating back centuries, the Roman Catholic Church observes these two days as a time in which the living commemorate the dead. Nov. 1 is All Saints Day, a feast day observing the lives of the many saints for whom there is no specific feast day during the year. Obviously, the day after Hallowe’en….from the silly to the serene. From the spooky to the spiritual.
As usual, I had to drive around the neighbourhood to see what was going on in the yard decoration department for Hallowe’en…..
I was actually pretty surprised at how many homes had already put up their Hallowe’en decorations. Did they have them up before Thanksgiving? Lots of fun ones….
Personally, my least favourites are the blow up creatures. Half they time they look like a pile of garbage lying on the ground. My favourites are the skeletons. A lot of imagination in posing those crazy things…ha ha.
Halloween is a holiday celebrated each year on October 31, and Halloween 2024 will occured yesterday on Thursday. The tradition originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced SOW-en), when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts.
Now it’s pretty much all about the costumes and candy and I am very O.K. with that.
Borrowing from European traditions, Canadians began to dress up in costumes and go house to house asking for food or money, a practice that eventually became today’s “trick-or-treat” tradition. Young women believed that on Halloween they could divine the name or appearance of their future husband by doing tricks with yarn, apple parings or mirrors. (History)
Today, Americans spend an estimated $6 billion annually on Halloween, making it the country’s second largest commercial holiday after Christmas.
I can remember Hallowe’ens with our wee ones in Calgary where it was so cold they had to put their costumes either under or over a snowsuit. Ugh. For me, growing up in St. Clair Beach was always a delightful experience with mild temperatures, the smell of burning leaves in the air, and the hope of finding the jackpot: someone giving out real, homemade candy apples!
To be honest it wasn’t ALWAYS delightful. I remember when some big boys mugged our middle boy and took away his candy. He was so upset and just came home. But his 2 friends went home, grabbed a pillowcase, and went trick-or-treating just for him. What a happy ending!
I found out that our 4 year old neighbour considers Hallowe’en her favourite day of the year too. We gave her some of our costume pieces and she was going to be a witch. I hope her excitement matched her experience.
Happy All Saints Day! And All Souls day is tomorrow! Let’s pray for those who have passed.
God bless them….and you! (Boo!)