All Saints
This article is about the Christian holiday. For other meanings see All Saints (disambiguation) and All Hallows (disambiguation) |
All Saints in Poland |
The
festival of
All Saints, also sometimes known as "All Hallows," or "Hallowmas" ("hallow" meaning "holy," and "mas" meaning "Mass"), is a feast celebrated in their honour.
All Saints is also a Christian formula invoking all the faithful
saints and
martyrs, known or unknown.
The
Roman Catholic holiday (
Festum omnium sanctorum) falls on
November 1, followed by
All Souls Day on
November 2, and is a
Holy Day of Obligation, with a
vigil and an
octave. The
Eastern Orthodox Church's
All Saints is the first Sunday after
Pentecost and as such marks the close of the
Easter season.
Common commemorations by several churches of the deaths of martyrs began to be celebrated in the 4th century. The first trace of a general celebration is attested in
Antioch on the Sunday after
Pentecost. This custom is also referred to in the 74th homily of
John Chrysostom (
407) and is maintained to the present day in the
Eastern Orthodox Church. The Irish also maintained this date, but the German church began the custom of celebrating it on November 1. (It was once commonly held to be fixed by the date of
Samhain, but as Samhain was a pagan
Irish feast, the German origin makes this claim dubious.) It spread from there until the date of festival was universally changed to November 1 by
Pope Gregory III (
731–
741). He designated November 1 as the date of the anniversary of the consecration of a chapel in St. Peter's for the relics "of the holy apostles and of all saints, martyrs and confessors, of all the just made perfect who are at rest throughout the world". By the time of the reign of
Charlemagne, the November festival of All Saints was widely celebrated. November 1 was decreed a day of obligation by the
Frankish king
Louis the Pious in
835 issued "at the instance of
Pope Gregory IV and with the assent of all the bishops."
In
Portugal,
Spain and
Mexico,
ofrendas (offerings) are made on this day. In Spain, the play
Don Juan Tenorio is traditionally performed. In
Portugal and
France, people offer flowers to dead relatives. In
Poland and
Germany, the tradition is to light candles and visit the graves of deceased relatives. In the
Philippines, the day is spent visiting the graves of deceased relatives, where they offer prayers, lay flowers, and light candles, often in a picnic-like atmosphere. In English speaking countries, the festival is celebrated with the hymn "For All the Saints", set to music by
Ralph Vaughan Williams.
The festival was retained after the
Reformation in the calendar of the
Church of England and in many
Lutheran churches. In the Lutheran churches, such as the
Church of Sweden, it assumes a role of general commemoration of the dead (similar to the
All Souls commemoration in the Eastern Orthodox Church that takes place two Saturdays before the beginning of
Lent). In the
Swedish calendar, the observance takes place on the first Saturday of November. In many Lutheran Churches however, the festival has fallen into disuse.
*
Veneration of the dead*
Halloween*
Dziady*
Day of the Dead*
Saturnalia and
Yule*
All Saints' Day article in the
Catholic Encyclopedia*
American Catholic - Saints FAQs, All Saints and All Souls Day
