The origins of Halloween date back to a church ritual performed to exorcise a multitude of demons in the 7th century.
The word Halloween comes from the Old English "All Hallows' Eve", the Scottish equivalent of "Allhallow-even". Its current abbreviated form was developed in the 18th century. Translated into Hungarian, it means the eve of All Saints' Day (Nov. 1) and refers to the celebration of saved men and women revered as saints in the Catholic Church.
The origin of the Halloween holiday dates back to May 13, 610, when IV. Pope Boniface consecrated an originally pagan Roman church, dedicating it to the Virgin Mary and Christian martyrs. The temple, whose construction was completed in 126, was built by Emperor Agrippa to honor all the pagan gods. Today it is known as one of the architectural wonders of the ancient world under the name "Pantheon", referring to its original purpose.
All Saints' Day
VII. Pope Gregory moved the church's holiday from May 13 to November 1 in order to combine it with other holidays to create All Saints' Day.
In the Catholic Church, there is a tradition of saying exorcism prayers when a building is consecrated as a place of worship. This was especially the case in the Roman Empire, when many pagan churches were converted into Christian churches. The Christians considered the pagan gods to be demons who had to be driven out of the building before the Christian Mass was offered there.
Thus an exorcism may have been necessary to transform the Pantheon into a Christian church dedicated to the Virgin Mary and the saints. Exorcism was a popular liturgy of the early church, and some historians claim that it was the most widely performed holiday ritual in the first few centuries. This is also the reason why All Saints' Day is traditionally associated with victory over paganism.
According to the St. Andrew's missal (this is a missal popular in America, which has several editions, which also contains reflections - trans.) because of these connections, "All Saints' Day commemorates the triumph of Christ over the false gods of the pagans, and that is why it is necessary on the feast and the vigil to pray so many parts of the liturgy of the martyrs at the presented masses, because the church (like the Pantheon) was originally built in honor of all the pagan gods."
In this way, the first "Halloween" began with an exorcism, driving out the spirits of darkness to make way for the worship of God, the true light of the world.
Translated by: Edit T. Nagy
Source: aleteia.org
Featured Image: Pixabay
