"THE ALL HALLOWTIDE TRIDUUM"
This Sunday we are gathering together to share in fellowship, food, and fun out on the front lawn for a Halloween Family Fun day. Some may shy away from the thought of Halloween. As a matter of fact, Lisa enjoys this day and time of year far more than I do, but perhaps my unease with Halloween is much the same unease I share with both Christmas and Easter. It's an unease that stems from the secularization and detachment of meaning from the important religious significance from the days I cherish. So it's a good time, a good moment to recall and remember.
Allhallowtide or Allsaintstide is the triduum encompassing the Western Christian observances of All Saints' Eve (Halloween), All Saints' Day (All Hallows'), and All Souls' Day, which last from October 31st to November 2nd. Allhallowtide is a "time to remember the dead, including martyrs, saints, and all faithful departed Christians."
The present date of Hallowmas (All Saints' Day) and thus also of its vigil (Hallowe'en) was established for Rome perhaps by Pope Gregory III (731–741) and was made of obligation throughout the Frankish Empire by Louis the Pious in 835. Elsewhere, other dates were observed even later, with the date in Ireland being 20 April. In the early 11th century, the modern date of All Souls' Day was popularized, after Abbot Odilo established it as a day for the monks of Cluny and associated monasteries to pray for the dead.
All Hallows' Eve:
The evening of Oct. 31, precedes the church's celebration of All Saints' Day on Nov. 1. The Book of Occasional Services (BOS) provides a form for a service on All Hallows' Eve. This service begins with the Prayer for Light, and it includes two or more readings from scripture. The options for the readings include the Witch of Endor (1 Sm 28:3-25), the Vision of Eliphaz the Temanite (Jb 4:12-21), the Valley of Dry Bones (Ez37;1-14), and the War in Heaven (Rv 12:[1-6]7-12). The readings are followed by a psalm, canticle, or hymn, and a prayer. The BOS notes that "suitable festivities and entertainments" may precede or follow the service, and there may be a visit to a cemetery or burial place.
The popular name for this festival is Halloween. It was the eve of Samhain, a pagan Celtic celebration of the beginning of winter and the first day of the new year. The ingathering of the harvest and the approach of winter apparently provided a reminder of human mortality. It was a time when the souls of the dead were said to return to their homes. Bonfires were set on hilltops to frighten away evil spirits. Samhain was a popular festival at the time when the British Isles were converted to Christianity. The church "adopted" this time of celebration for Christian use by observing All Saints' Day on Nov. 1, and All Hallows' Eve on the evening of Oct. 31.
All Saints' Day:
Commemorates all saints, known and unknown, on Nov. 1.
All Saints' Day is one of the seven principal feasts of the church year, and one of the four days recommended for the administration of baptism.
All Saints' Day may also be celebrated on the Sunday following Nov. 1.
It is believed by many scholars the commemoration of all the saints on Nov. 1 originated in Ireland spread from there to England, and then to the European continent.
It had reached Rome and had been adopted there early in the ninth century as attested by a letter of Pope Gregory IV, who reigned from 828 to 844, to Emperor Louis “the Pious,” urging that such a festival be observed throughout the Church. However, the desire of Christian people to express the intercommunion of the living and the dead in the Body of Christ in days past had entered into the nearer presence of their Lord, and especially of those who had crowned their profession with heroic deaths, was far older than the early Middle Ages.
Gregory Thaumaturgus (the “Wonder, Worker”), writing before the year 270, refers to the observance of a festival of all martyrs, though he does not date it. A hundred years later, Ephrem, the Deacon mentions such observance in Edessa on May 13; and the patriarch John Chrysostom, who died in 407, says that a festival of All Saints was observed on the first Sunday after Pentecost in Constantinople at the time of his episcopate.
The contemporary lectionary of the East Syrians set a commemoration of all the saints on Friday in Easter week. On May 13, in the year 610, the Pantheon in Rome—originally a pagan temple dedicated to “all the gods” — was dedicated as the Church of St. Mary and All Martyrs.
All Saints’ Day is classed, in the Prayer Book of 1979, as a Principal Feast, taking precedence of any other day or observance. Among the seven so classified, All Saints’ Day alone may be observed on the following Sunday, in addition to its observance on its fixed date. It is one of the four days recommended in the Prayer Book (page 312) for the administration of Holy Baptism.”
All Souls Day (All Faithful Departed)
This optional observance is an extension of All Saints' Day. While All Saints' is to remember all the saints, popular piety felt the need to distinguish between outstanding saints and those who are unknown in the wider fellowship of the church, especially family members and friends. Commemoration of All Faithful Departed did not appear in an American Prayer Book until 1979, and it is celebrated on Nov. 2.
Many churches now commemorate all the faithful departed in the context of the All Saints' Day celebration.
In the New Testament, the word “saints” is used to describe the entire membership of the Christian community, and in the Collect, for All Saints’ Day the word “elect” is used in a similar sense.
Beginning in the tenth century, it became customary to set aside another day on which the church remembered that vast body of the faithful who, though no fewer members of the company of the redeemed, are unknown in the wider fellowship of the church. It was also a day for particular remembrance of family members and friends. Though the observance of the day was abolished at the Reformation because of abuses connected with masses for the dead, a renewed understanding of its meaning has led to a widespread acceptance of this commemoration among Anglicans, and to its inclusion as an optional observance in the calendar of the Episcopal Church.
You may have also heard of:
Day of the Dead or Día de Muertos
This is celebrated by people of Mexican heritage. It is another example of the melding of indigenous people’s celebrations with religious traditions. The multi-day holiday involves family and friends gathering to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died and help support their spiritual journey. In Mexican culture, death is viewed as a natural part of the human cycle. Mexicans view it not as a day of sadness, but as a day of celebration because their loved ones awake and celebrate with them.
In the 16th century, the celebration took place at the beginning of summer. Gradually, it was associated with October 31, November 1, and November 2 to coincide with the Western Christian triduum of All Hallowtide. Traditions connected with the holiday include building private altars called ofrendas, honoring the deceased using Calaveras, Aztec marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed, and visiting graves with these as gifts. Visitors also leave possessions of the deceased at the graves.
Scholars trace the origins of the modern Mexican holiday to indigenous observances dating back hundreds of years and to an Aztec festival.
So in essence we are called to pray, reflect and celebrate life, the life which came before us, which breathed life into us, and life that is present in the here and now. Together let us give thanks and remember.
Sources: Lesser Feasts and Fasts, The Priest’s Handbook, The Book of Occasional Services, and St. ThomasEpiscopal Church
