All Saints’ Day is a religious holy day of obligation observed annually in celebration of all the Christian Saints across the world. This festival is also referred to as All Hallows’ Day, Hallowmas, Solemnity of All Saints, and the Feast of All Saints. This holiday is celebrated by the Roman Catholic Church, Lutheran Church, Reformed Church, Anglican Communion, Methodist Church, among others. In Western Christianity, this holiday is observed on November 1st. In Eastern Christianity, it is observed on the Sunday after Pentecost, and others observe it on the Friday after Easter.
All Saints’ Day celebrations stem from the era of Christian persecution in the late Roman Empire. As such, during the 4th century, the church set aside a day to honor all the faithful departed souls for their martyrdom. Although this holiday was observed for the first time during the 4th century, it only became formally established during the 7th century when Pope Boniface IV sanctified Rome’s Parthenon to all the martyrs and Virgin Mary on May 13th 609 AD. However, during the 9th century, Pope Gregory declared All Saints’ Day a holy day that celebrates all saints and moved the date to November 1st. In other regions, such as the British Isles, All Saints’ Day was being celebrated as early as the 8th century in substitution or to coincide with other pagan festivals such as Samhain.
Observation of this holiday originates from the faith that there is a strong spiritual link between those in heaven and those on earth. For instance, according to the Catholic doctrine, this holy day celebrates everyone who has achieved the beatific vision or has entered heaven, including those who are not known. As such, this is a Holy Day of Obligation where all Christians are expected to attend Mass, with the exception being in cases of illness. However, in the Methodist doctrine, this holiday is all about “giving God solemn thanks for the lives and deaths of His saints”. Therefore, everyone such as Paul the Apostle, John Wesley and St. Augustine of Hippo, including family or friends who’ve led others to have faith in Jesus Christ are celebrated.
The reason behind the date for this holiday is plagued with controversy. According to some historians, November 1st was the designated holiday because this date marked the day when the Celtic festival of the dead (Samhain) was celebrated. However, others hold that according to the accounts of Saint Óengus of Tallaght, an Irish bishop, writer, and reformer during the first quarter of the 9th century, in Ireland, this holiday was observed on April 20th. Hence, the date November 1st is more associated to Germanic traditions compared to Celtic traditions.
In Eastern Europe and Western Asia, Eastern Orthodox Churches using the Byzantine convention observe All Saints’ Sunday on the first Sunday after Pentecost. In the 9th century, during the rule of the Byzantine Emperor Leo VI (866-911), the Feast of All Saints received great importance. This was a result of his wife Empress Theophano, who led a devout life. Upon her death, which took place in 893 AD, Emperor Leo intended to build a church in her memory but was forbidden. Instead, he dedicated All Saints, so that his wife too would be celebrated with all the other saints if she too was indeed pious. Traditionally, it is believed that Leo is the reason behind the expansion of the holiday from a celebration of all martyrs to all saints.
Generally, All Saints’ Day marks the end of the Paschal period and during the church services, special scriptural readings and hymns from the Pentecostarion (the liturgical book used by Byzantine Catholic and Eastern Orthodox) are included. Usually, on the Sunday following Pentecost Saturday, all locally venerated saints such as the All Saints of America are celebrated. This will be followed by an even more localized celebration of saints on the third Sunday after Pentecost. However, in these regions, all Saturdays of the year are designated days for celebrating all saints and distinct hymns from the Octoechos are recited.
In Western Europe, America, and Southeast Asia, Hallowmas is observed on November 1st, followed by All Souls’ Day on November 2nd. In the Catholic Church (Roman Rite) it is a solemnity, a festival in the Lutheran Churches and a Principal Feast in the Anglican Churches. In early Christianity, it was customary to celebrate the anniversary of a martyr’s death at the place of martyrdom. However, during the 4th century, this custom faced a lot of reformation following the transfer of relics, interchanging feasts, dividing them, and joining in a common feast. During the Persecution of Diocletian, the figures of martyrs significantly rose which made it difficult to assign each a specific day of remembrance. However, the church felt that all martyrs deserve to be honored and selected a common day where they could all be celebrated. The first observation of this celebration is traced back to Antioch on the Sunday after Pentecost. Records of this celebration are mentioned in the homily of St Ephrem the Syrian (373) and John Chrysostom (407). The consecration of the Pantheon in Rome (Roman temple, now a church) by Pope Boniface IV during the 609 AD or 610 AD marked the beginning of the celebrations of All Saints’ Day in Rome. However, according to evidence, feasts celebrating holy martyrs existed during the 5th and 7th centuries. As such, the origin of Hallowmas is mired with uncertainty and has been celebrated in different places on different dates. However, there is the belief that May 13th, which was the original date for this holiday, marked the Feast of Lemures where evil and restless spirits of the dead were appeased. According to some liturgiologists, the concept of the Lemuria festival as the root of Hallowmas as their dates and theme are similar is acceptable. The current date of All Hallows’ Day is traced back to its establishment by Pope Gregory III (731-741 AD) who moved the holy day from May 13th to November 1st. However, the new date coincided with the Celtic holiday of Samhain whose themes were similar to those of the festival of Lemuria, both of which were an ancient harvest festival. In 835 AD, the Feast of All Saints was made a holy day of obligation in the Frankish empire following the Louis the Pious declaration which was dispensed at the “instance of Pope Gregory IV and the assent of all the bishops”.
Despite the reformation of the calendar in the Anglican Church as well as the Lutheran Church, the Feast of Saints was retained. For instance, in the Lutheran Churches, for example the Church of Sweden, this holiday adopts a general remembrance of the departed and usually occurs on a Saturday between October 31st and November 6th. In Lutheran Churches, it is usually shifted to the first Sunday of November while in the Anglican Communion, such as the Church of England, this holiday is celebrated as a Principal Feast (most significant observations) on November 1st or on the first Sunday between October 30th and November 5th. On the other hand, protestants do not agree with the idea of saints as understood in the Roman Catholic Churches and hence celebrate all Christians on All Hallows Day. For instance, in the United Methodist Church, this holiday is observed on the first Sunday of November and celebrates both Saints and members of the congregation who’ve passed away. During the celebration of this holiday, the names of the faithful departed are read during worship which is accompanied by the toll of a bell, playing a chime or lighting a candle for each name that is read. In English-speaking countries, services usually include singing traditional hymns “For All the Saints” by Walsham How.
Hallowmas is observed after the pagan festival of Samhain as well as the secular holiday of Halloween. Additionally, this holiday overlaps with a Mexican holiday referred to as the Day of the Dead which is followed by All Souls’ Day. Furthermore, the holiday falls in the Islamic month of Muharram, a period during which Shia Muslims grieve the martyrdom of Hussain ibn Ali, the prophet Mohammad’s grandson, which took place in the 7th century. The Feast of All Saints is observed on November 1st and in most countries, it is a public holiday. However, in Finland and Sweden, this holiday is celebrated on a Saturday between October 31st and November 1st while in the Netherlands, it is observed on the first Sunday of November. In most Lutheran churches, All Hallows Day is observed on the Sunday after Reformation Sunday. Reformation Sunday is observed on or before October 31st.
According to Western Christianity, the observation of this holiday should begin at Vespers on the eve of October 31st, also known as All Hallows’ Eve or Halloween and end on November 1st. In most traditions, All Saints’ Day forms part of the Allhallowtide season, which consists of three days from October 31st to November 2nd, with the exception of Anglicans whose season is extended until Remembrance Sunday. It is common for people to attend church services or visit graveyards to place flowers and candles on the graves of loved ones on this day. Additionally, although the holiday is traditionally celebrated by reading the beatitudes, which are the eight blessings Jesus Christ recounted, different countries across the world have developed their unique ways of commemorating this holiday. Below is a list of how this holiday is observed across the world:
Europe
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | Hungary | Slovakia |
| Croatia | Lithuania | Slovenia |
| Czech Republic | Macedonia | Serbia |
| Finland | Moldova | Sweden |
| Catholic regions of Germany | Poland | Sweden |
| Italy | Romania |
The Americas
Philippines
In the Philippines, All Saints’ Day is observed by visiting the tombs of dead relatives to fix them. Other traditions include offering prayers, flowers, candles, food or burning incense.
Asia
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