Halloween and All Saint's Day:

Next week - October 31st sees the annual 'Holiday' festival of Halloween and then on the 1st November the Christian holiday; All Saint's Day.

Halloween traditions include; dressing up as ghosts, ghouls and witches, apple bobbing, trick or treating, making pumpkin Jack-o-lanterns and having bonfires to scare away evil spirits. It is one of the oldest celebrations in the world - dating back over 2000 years.

The link between Halloween and All Saint's Day is in that when Christianity came to Britain and Europe, the 1st of November became a dedicated day for saints who did not have their own celebrated day - They performed a mass called 'All Hallows mass' the night before, this was known as 'All Hallows E'en' and this subsequently became Halloween or Hallowe'en (correct spelling.) it is believed that the colours of orange and black are linked to Halloween due to orange having association with harvests and black being associated to death.

All Saint's Day traditions include; the taking of flowers to the graves of dead relatives, lighting candles and visiting the graves of deceased relatives and the offering of prayers and flowers to those passed away.

The Feast of All Saints is a holy day of the Church honoring all saints, known and unknown.

On All Saints Day, we celebrate these saints of the Lord and ask for their prayers and intercessions.

The whole concept of All Saints Day is tied in with the concept of the Communion of Saints. Christians have been honoring their saints and martyrs since at least the second century AD.