![](\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/0\/07\/Alla_helgons_dag_vid_R%C3%B6ke_kyrka-1.jpg\/1920px-Alla_helgons_dag_vid_R%C3%B6ke_kyrka-1.jpg\")
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\u201cA graveyard outside a\u00a0Lutheran<\/a>\u00a0church in\u00a0R\u00f6ke<\/a>, Sweden on the\u00a0feast of All Hallows<\/strong>\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n And\u00a0Triduum<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>is just a fancy Latin word for \u201cthree days.\u201d<\/p>\n In turn the word \u201challow\u201d \u2013 in\u00a0both \u201cHallowe\u2019en\u201d and \u201cAllhallowtide\u201d \u2013 came from the\u00a0Old English word for \u201csaint,\u201d\u00a0halig<\/b><\/a><\/em>.\u00a0 That eventually became \u201challow.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0(Maybe because it was easier to say.)<\/em>\u00a0 Which led to November 1 now being called\u00a0All Saints\u2019 Day<\/a>.\u00a0 But to the Old English, \u201cAll Haligs\u2019 Day<\/em>\u201d \u2013 November 1 \u2013 eventually became \u201cAll Hallows Day.\u201d\u00a0 Then the \u201ceve\u201d\u00a0before<\/em>\u00a0that Feast Day \u2013 October 31 \u2013 became \u201cAll Hallows Evening.\u201d\u00a0 In time that shortened to \u201cAll Hallows E\u2019en.\u201d\u00a0 And later still it shortened to \u201cHallowe\u2019en,\u201d then just plain\u00a0Halloween<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n Wikipedia<\/a>\u00a0said this three-day period is a \u201ctime to remember the dead, including\u00a0martyrs<\/a>,\u00a0saints<\/a>, and\u00a0all<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0faithful departed Christians.\u201d\u00a0 The main day of the three is November 1, now called All Saints Day, but previously referred to as\u00a0Hallowmas<\/a>.\u00a0 It was established sometime between 731 and 741 \u2013 over 1,300 years ago \u2013 \u201cperhaps by\u00a0Pope Gregory III<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Put another way,\u00a0November 1 honors \u201call the\u00a0saints<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0martyrs<\/a>, both known and unknown.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, special people in the Church.\u00a0 (A saint is defined as having “having an exceptional degree of\u00a0holiness<\/a>,” while a martyr is someone “killed because of their testimony of\u00a0Jesus<\/a>.”)\u00a0<\/em> On the other hand, November 2 \u2013 All Souls\u2019 Day<\/em><\/strong> \u2013 was designed to honor \u201call<\/i><\/strong>\u00a0faithful Christians … unknown in the wider fellowship of the church, especially family members and friends.’\u201d\u00a0 In other words, the\u00a0rest<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>of us poor\u00a0schmucks<\/a>.\u00a0 (Those of us who have died, that is.)<\/em><\/p>\n So back to Halloween:\u00a0\u00a0It all started with an old-time belief that evil spirits were most prevalent during the long nights of winter.\u00a0 The \u201cold-timers\u201d also thought the \u201cbarriers between our world and the spirit world\u201d were\u00a0at their its lowest and most\u00a0permeable<\/a>\u00a0the night of October 31:<\/p>\n So, those old-time\u00a0people would wear masks<\/strong> or put on costumes<\/strong> in order to disguise their identities.\u00a0 The idea was to keep the afterlife \u201challows\u201d \u2013 ghosts or spirits \u2013 from recognizing the people in this, the \u201cmaterial world.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n There was\u00a0another old-time custom, that if you had to travel on\u00a0All Hallows E\u2019en\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>\u2013 like from 11:00 p.m. until midnight \u2013 your had to be careful.\u00a0 If your candle kept burning, that was a\u00a0good\u00a0<\/em>omen.\u00a0\u00a0(The person holding the candle would be safe in the upcoming winter \u201cseason of darkness.\u201d)<\/em>\u00a0 But if your candle went\u00a0out<\/em><\/strong>, \u201cthe omen was bad indeed.\u201d<\/p>\n The thought was that the candle had been blown out by\u00a0witches<\/a>…<\/p>\n Then there were the pumpkins.\u00a0\u00a0Apparently some other old-time people set out carved pumpkins on their windowsills, to keep \u201charmful spirits\u201d out of their home. \u00a0 But yet another tradition said\u00a0 jack-o\u2019-lanterns \u201crepresented Christian souls in\u00a0purgatory<\/a>.\u201d \u00a0And while\u00a0today jack-o\u2019-lanterns are made from pumpkins, but were originally carved from large turnips.<\/p>\n Tradition had it that this ghostly light \u2013 seen by travelers at night and \u201cespecially over bogs, swamps or marshes \u2013 resembled a flickering lamp.\u00a0 The flickering lamp then receded if you approached it, and so it \u201cdrew travelers from their safe paths,\u201d\u00a0to their doom\u2026<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Finally we get to the third of the three-day holiday \u2013 November 2 \u2013 All Souls\u2019 Day<\/a>. \u00a0The original idea was to remember the souls of \u201cthe dear departed<\/a>,\u201d illustrated by the painting below.<\/p>\n “Observing Christians typically remember deceased relatives” on November 2.\u00a0 The custom began in the sixth century with a Benedictine<\/a>\u00a0custom of commemorating deceased members of a given monastery<\/a>\u00a0at Whitsuntide.\u00a0 (Or “Whit(e) Sunday<\/a>,” also known as Pentecost, held 50 days after Easter Sunday.)\u00a0<\/em> That changed in the 11th century when\u00a0Saint\u00a0Odilo of Cluny<\/a>\u00a0chose the day after All Souls Day to\u00a0commemorate “all<\/em><\/strong> the faithful departed … with alms, prayers, and sacrifices for the relief of the suffering souls in purgatory.”<\/p>\n So there you have it.\u00a0 In closing, here’s wishing you a happy\u00a0three days of Hallowe’en.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n The \u201cThree\u00a0<\/a><\/strong>Days of Halloween<\/a>\u201d end on\u00a0November 2, with\u00a0All Souls\u2019 Day<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n The upper image is courtesy of\u00a0Allhallowtide \u2013 Wikipedia<\/a>, with the caption:\u00a0 \u201cA graveyard outside a\u00a0Lutheran<\/a>\u00a0church in\u00a0R\u00f6ke<\/a>, Sweden on the feast of All Hallows. \u00a0Flowers and lighted candles are placed by relatives on the graves of their deceased loved ones.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The image of the jack-o\u2019lantern is courtesy of\u00a0Halloween\u00a0\u2013 Wikipedia<\/a>.\u00a0 The caption:\u00a0 \u201cA\u00a0jack-o\u2019-lantern<\/a>, one of the symbols of Halloween representing the souls of the dead.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The lower image is courtesy of\u00a0All Souls\u2019 Day \u2013 Wikipedia<\/a><\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0The caption: \u201cAll Souls\u2019 Day<\/strong>\u00a0by\u00a0William Bouguereau<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0See also\u00a0Allhallowtide<\/a>, and\u00a0All Saints\u2019 Day \u2013 Wikipedia<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cA graveyard outside a\u00a0Lutheran\u00a0church in\u00a0R\u00f6ke, Sweden on the\u00a0feast of All Hallows\u2026\u201d * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * Most people think Halloween\u00a0is one day, October 31st.\u00a0 But there are actually three days of “Hallowe’en.”\u00a0 Or more precisely, Halloween is the first day of\u00a0the Halloween \u201cTriduum.\u201d\u00a0 (In the alternative\u00a0Allhallowtide.)\u00a0 And\u00a0Triduum\u00a0is just a fancy Latin word for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7776"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7776"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7843,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7776\/revisions\/7843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/h1>\n
![\"Jack-o'-Lantern](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/a\/a2\/Jack-o%27-Lantern_2003-10-31.jpg\/240px-Jack-o%27-Lantern_2003-10-31.jpg\")
Most people think Halloween<\/a>\u00a0is one day, October 31st.\u00a0 But there are actually three<\/em><\/strong> days of “Hallowe’en.”\u00a0 Or more precisely, Halloween is the first day of\u00a0the Halloween \u201cTriduum.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 (In the alternative\u00a0Allhallowtide<\/a>.)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/8\/86\/Lag_BaOmer_bonfire.jpg\/260px-Lag_BaOmer_bonfire.jpg\")
Another thing they did was build bonfires<\/em><\/strong>, literally\u00a0bonefires<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0(That is, \u201cbonfires were originally fires in which bones were burned.\u201d)<\/em>\u00a0 The original idea was that\u00a0evil spirits had to be driven away with noise and fire.\u00a0 But that evolved into this:\u00a0 The \u201cfires were thought to bring comfort to the souls in purgatory and people prayed for them as they held burning straw up high.\u201d<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/2\/25\/Will-o%27-the-wisp_of_Russia.jpg\/220px-Will-o%27-the-wisp_of_Russia.jpg\")
In turn, both the jack-o\u2019-lantern and\u00a0Will-o\u2019-the-wisp<\/a>\u00a0– at right, in a Japanese interpretation – are tied in with the strange ghostly light known as\u00a0ignis fatuus<\/em><\/strong>. \u00a0(From the Medieval Latin for \u201cfoolish fire.\u201d)<\/em>\u00a0 That refers to the \u201catmospheric ghost light<\/a>\u00a0seen by travelers at night, especially over bogs, swamps or marshes.\u00a0\u00a0It resembles a flickering lamp and is said to recede if approached:\u201d<\/p>\n![\"William-Adolphe](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/3\/3a\/William-Adolphe_Bouguereau_%281825-1905%29_-_The_Day_of_the_Dead_%281859%29.jpg\/800px-William-Adolphe_Bouguereau_%281825-1905%29_-_The_Day_of_the_Dead_%281859%29.jpg\")
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