ROSARY MAKERS GUIDE

You still hear people doubt it, even when you show them that Halloween is All-Hallows'-Eve which is the night-before-All-Saints'- Day. Some tell me they understand that Halloween pranks were a post-Reformation contribution to plague Catholics who kept the vigil of All Saints. Now it is possible that Halloween was abused for such a purpose; nevertheless, during all the Christian centuries up until the simplification of the Church calendar in 1956, it was a liturgical vigil in its own right and thus has a reason for being. Learning this, one pious lady of our acquaintance was heard to say: "Oh, I'm so glad to know that. I was about to write my congressman and suggest the whole thing be outlawed."

It was in the eighth century that the Church appointed a special date for the feast of All Saints, followed by a day in honor of her soon-to-be saints, the feast of All Souls. She chose this time of year, it is supposed, because in her part of the world it was the time of barrenness on the earth. The harvest was in, the summer done, the world brown and drab and mindful of death. Snow had not yet descended to comfort and hide the bony trees or blackened fields; so with little effort man could look about and see a meditation on death and life hereafter.

It was in Ireland and Scotland and England that All Hallows' Eve became a combination of prayer and merriment. Following the break with the Holy See, Queen Elizabeth forbade all observances connected with All Souls' Day. In spite of her laws, however, customs survived; even Shakespeare in his Two Gentlemen of Verona has Speed tell Valentine that he knows he is in love because he has learned to speak "puling like a beggar at Hallowmas."

excerpts, "All Hallows' Eve" The Year and Our Children by Mary Reed Newland

as posted at catholiceducation.org

It was very nice to read the brief history of Hallowe'en posted above.  Here on Beacon Hill in Boston, the children celebrate it by going out in costume with parents at about 4:00PM.  The neighbors sit on stoops and doorsteps to watch the troops go by and offer the miniature wrapped candy bars for children to take.  :)The littlest ones are a joy to watch and the unofficial (and slightly uneven) parade is a  happy thing to see.