Video - We all know Halloween, but how about All Saints day 01 Nov. and All Souls day 02 Nov? (Catholic).
Let's start with Halloween. We all know trick-or-treaters ask for candy door-to-door in costumes ranging from adorable to frightening, but the holiday does not have roots in either candy or costumes.
Long ago in Ireland and Britain, Christians would come together on All Hallows Eve to ask for God's blessing and protection from the evil in the world. The source of the modern celebrations stemmed from the donning of saintly and evil spirit costumes to act out the battle between good and evil.
According to dictionary.com, the word "Halloween" is a "direct derivation of All Saints Day" with "All Hallows" in Old English meaning "the feast of the saints."
"Halloween" has also been translated to "Eve of All Hallows," which was a holy day celebrating the day before All Saints Day, that Reverend Richard Donohoe, the vicar of Catholic Charities for the Diocese of Birmingham, described as "a celebration of the communion of saints, those people we believe are in heaven, through good works and God's grace." All Saints' Day is celebrated the first day of November while All Souls' Day is celebrated November 2.
All Saints' Day is a day Catholics offer prayers to those in purgatory. Reverend Donohoe said, "All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day are related, but they are two separate celebrations.
On All Saints' Day there's a call to live as saints, to remind us how we're supposed to live. On All Souls' Day, we're talking about all souls and asking God's mercy for them. Read the full story here.
