Hallowtide

All Hallows Eve (Hallowe'en) October 31st

All Hallows Day/ All Saints Day/ Hallowmass November 1st

All Souls Day November 2nd

This is the time of the year when pagan and Christian ideas are much confused. 1st November was the beginning of the Celtic Year and is obviously a time when days become darker and winter is setting in. In the popular mind it became necessary to take measures to drive away the evil spirits which would be abroad in the dark months of the winter. At the same time, families would remember and honour their dead ancestors whose spirits were also loose upon the earth. The god worshipped at this time was Samhain, the lord of death. When the Romans met this festival they grafted on to it their own celebration of Pomona, the goddess of fruit. These two cultures combined to give the games and activities featuring nuts and fruit and the belief in spirits which are both antique elements of our own present Hallowe'en celebrations.

When the Christian Church encountered this festival and "christianized" it, it became a period for celebrating the victory of good over evil. "Hallow" means to make holy and All Hallows Day (All Saints Day) celebrates and honours all saints, known and unknown. It became part of the Christian calendar in the ninth century.

You will also find that the major saints of the church have their own designated feast day e.g. St Andrew on 30th November and St Peter on 29th June.

All Saints Day is often celebrated with special services in church, and you will find the readings for the day in the Alternative Service Book pages 810-815

(those for named Saints Days appear from page 751 onwards).

All Saints Day is followed by All Souls Day, which commemorates all who have died. It gives people an opportunity to remember their own family and friends, perhaps by having their name read out in the prayers in church. This particular day was founded, so legend tells us, by Odilo, Abbot of Cluny, who set aside a day to pray for souls in purgatory. In due course folk began to believe that the dead actually came back to their homes on this night, and this is the origin of the "Soul Cakes" which are put out for the nocturnal visitors.

Celebrating Hallowtide

Call My Bluff ...

This once popular TV panel game can be adapted for All Saints; divide your class into teams and give them genuine saints' symbols to research. They need to draw the symbol and devise three stories (one true, two bluff) about why the saint is remembered with this symbol. The rest of the class' then have to guess the correct answer. The symbols and the true stories can then form part of a display or a class information booklet or playlets about the saints can be devised for collective worship. Appropriate stained glass windows can be created from tissue paper etc and used to decorate the windows of the classroom or school hall.

Local Saints

The Diocese is rich in saints from the Anglo-Saxon period and you may like to collect together information on those heroes and heroines of the faith who are remembered in your area e.g. Neot, Guthlac at Crowland, Wendreda at March, King Edmund (Bury St Edmunds), and (appropriately for church schools) Etheldreda at Ely. (Information on St Etheldreda is available from the Cathedral - contact the Visitors Officer 01353-667735.) Alternatively, follow up the story of the saint(s) to whom your parish church is dedicated or those connected with street/place names in your town or village if this is appropriate.

"Ordinary People"

There are many people whose lives are dedicated to the service of others, from Mother Teresa of Calcutta to someone in your own town or village who e.g. works with the mentally ill, fosters children, raises funds for charity etc. All Souls honours all those who have died, known and unknown. Why not use this time of the year to recognise the work people do in your own community?