Pagans and Catholics..?

[bella_56]

Is it true that All Saints Day was put to cover All Hallows Eve by the Catholics to cover Pagan practices? What’s the deal?

 

[Ravyn_Guiliani]

you got it backwards----the ‘pagan’ practices were true, Catholicism reclaimed them. People always accuse Catholicism of taking pagan things and Christianizing them when in reality there has always been pieces of Truth in the World–even among pagans and pre-Christians, the Catholic Church just claimed it where it was found!

 

[mlldrl]

I’m not sure where you got your ideas from. All Hallows Eve is the night before All Hallows Day. Hallows like “Hallowed by thy name”. The hallowed, holy ones of God…the Saints.

From Webster’s dictionary online.

Main Entry: hal·low
Pronunciation: 'ha-(")lO
Function: transitive verb
Etymology: Middle English halowen, from Old English hAlgian, from hAlig holy – more at HOLY
Date: before 12th century
1 : to make holy or set apart for holy use
2 : to respect greatly : VENERATE

M

 

[kleary]

Is it true that All Saints Day was put to cover All Hallows Eve by the Catholics to cover Pagan practices? What’s the deal?

No. Halloween was created to cover the Catholic practices. If you go to the All Souls Mass day Solemn Mass in the EF you would see. The chant will send chills down your spine. The priest dressed in black vestments and black cope, the catafaulque (Coffin with no body in it) in the center aisle…This is for praying for those in Purgatory and reminding us of our own mortality and need to repent- go to confession- death is coming and the clock is ticking - repent.

Ken

 

[Church_Militant]

This is one of those topics where there is actually a really interesting history that a lot of people don’t know. Check it out on my blog where I posted the info that I found.
The Origins of Halloween

 

[Gara3987]

If memory Serves me well, Martin Luther had something to do with it indirectly that is (what he was teaching/ he was completely against the Church on praying for the dead).

mlldrl:

I’m not sure where you got your ideas from. All Hallows Eve is the night before All Hallows Day. Hallows like “Hallowed by thy name”. The hallowed, holy ones of God…the Saints.

From Webster’s dictionary online.

Main Entry: hal·low
Pronunciation: 'ha-(")lO
Function: transitive verb
Etymology: Middle English halowen, from Old English hAlgian, from hAlig holy – more at HOLY
Date: before 12th century
1 : to make holy or set apart for holy use
2 : to respect greatly : VENERATE

That is correct.

It is a shame that all souls day is not the same any more, through out the whole day we should be praying for those in Purgatory, for that is what they need in order to get out and into Heaven.

 

[Cajetan]

People need to understand that authentic, historical Christianity grew up within a particular civilization, the great Greco-Roman, and the Church therefore organically and inevitably took on a lot of that world’s modes of thought and visible characteristics. There is no shame in this, and there is much to be celebrated. (To swiftly write it all off as “pagan” and therefore evil/bad is extremely narrow-minded and unrealistic.) This is not to say that the early Church was uncritical toward the beliefs and practices of Greece and Rome – not at all, there was MUCH that was condemned, such as the practice of murdering babies and any number of false religious beliefs/practices and philosophies. But what was deemed to be not contrary to the Word of God was accepted and embraced.

People who expect authentic Christianity to look, sound, and feel like it was founded in contemporary America are simply ignorant of their religion.

 

[Deacon_Ed_B]

After going through these posts, I don’t know if this thread is about Halloween or all Saints and All souls day. From the Churches perspective, All Hallows (meaning All Holy, i.e., those who are in heaven and not canonized) is simply the day before All Saints Day A saint is nothing more (not said lightly) than one who has died and is in heaven. This is in effect, their feast day celebrated by the Church. All souls day, celebrated in different cultures as “The Day of the Dead”, is the day when the universal Church prays for those saints in waiting, as it were, who are those souls who are in purgatory, but not yet in heaven. Hope this helps
Prayers & Blessings
Deacon Ed B