Today's Catholic looks at Halloween...

Tracing the traditions: From hauntings to hallows in Halloween.

By Patricia Kasten, Special to Today's Catholic, October 26, 2007. [an excerpted fragment]

"Let's start with All Saints Day.

"A feast day commemorating the saints goes far back into Christian history.

"It arose from feasts honoring martyrs.

"Early Christian churches were often built over the tombs of martyrs.

"For a while, the first Sunday afer Pentecost was a preferred day for this feast.

"However, by 610 A.D. that changed.

"That year, Pope Boniface IV chose May 13 as the date for All Saints Day [a custom] continued until the time of Pope Gregory III (731 - 41).

[Pope Gregory III] dedicated a chapel in St. Peter's Basilica to all the saints on Nov. 1.

"The feast day's date has stuck ever since.

"Gregory III doesn't have the only claim to setting the Nov. 1 date.

"That also goes to Irish monks and grew out of Celtic traditions.

"Rather than try to abolish Samhain [the druidic celebration of the pagan Lord of the Dead that occurred on October 31], the monks set their own festival celebrations of All Saints on Nov. 1 and co-opted the [pagan] celebration so fthe night before.

"The vigil of All Saints Day became known as All Hallows Eve, eventually shortened to Halloween.

"All Souls Day follows All Saints, and is a time to pray for the [poor] souls in purgatory.

"It dates at least to the fifth century, when a day of prayer for the dead was held on the Monday after Pentecost.

"Saint Odilo (962 - 1049) gets credit for moving the feast[of All Souls Day ] to after All Saints Day, at least for the monks of his order, the cluniacs."