All Saints' Day
Description:
The holiday has deep pagan roots. About two thousand years ago, Celtic tribes at this time celebrated the New Year, on the eve of which the festival of Samhain was celebrated. This borderline time (the transition to winter) was considered a magical and mystical time - Sids (neutral, and often hostile to people, magical creatures) pass into the world of people, and people also have the opportunity to visit the other world.
It was also believed that the souls of the dead return to their homes on this day and demand sacrificial food from the living. Around the same time (at the end of October), the ancient Romans celebrated two festivals - Feralia, dedicated to the memory of the dead, and the days of Pomona, the goddess of tree fruits.
This coincidence of dates contributed to the preservation of the tradition of commemoration of the dead and after the widespread spread of Christianity. The holiday merged in the people’s consciousness with a church holiday. All Saints’ Day is still celebrated by the Catholic Church on November 1. All Hallow ees (All Saints’ Mass) was its distorted Old English name, so Halloween is nothing more than Allholwis’ Eve.
At the same time, pagan ideas about sids in the medieval Christian consciousness turned into ideas about the evil force that comes out on this day to frighten pious inhabitants. That is why in the Middle Ages and modern times, Halloween was chosen by witches who necessarily arranged a Sabbath on this day.
The Feast of All Saints was originally celebrated on May 13, on this day 609 (according to other sources 910), Pope Boniface IV consecrated the Roman rotunda dedicated to Our Lady and all the Great Martyrs of the Church. And at the beginning of the XI century, Pope Gregory III moved this holiday to November 1 (then this day was dedicated to those saints who did not have their own holiday during the year).