All Saints Day - November 1, the Christian feast of all saints, and the start of Allhallowtide

All Saints Day on November 1 is a Christian feast day honoring all saints, known and unknown. It is a Holy Day of Obligation in the Roman Catholic Church, a festival in the Lutheran and Anglican traditions, and a statutory public holiday in Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Poland, Hungary, and most Catholic-majority countries.

The one-line summary

A Christian feast on November 1 honoring all saints. Rooted in the 8th-century dedication of a chapel by Pope Gregory III and moved to its present date by Pope Gregory IV in 837 to coincide with the Celtic Samhain festival. The opening day of Allhallowtide (October 31 - November 2) and the source of the word Halloween.

Origin and history

All Saints Day traces to the dedication of a chapel in St. Peter's Basilica by Pope Gregory III in 731 - 732 to "all the saints." The feast was originally observed on May 13. In 837, Pope Gregory IV moved it to November 1 to align with the Celtic Samhain festival (October 31 - November 1) and to give Christians a feast day in deliberate competition with pagan ancestor veneration. November 1 has been the universal Western date ever since.

The feast became a Holy Day of Obligation in the Roman Catholic Church and expanded through the medieval period. Following the Protestant Reformation, Anglican and Lutheran churches retained All Saints Day but reduced its emphasis on intercessory prayer for the dead. The Eastern Orthodox Church observes All Saints Day on the Sunday after Pentecost, which puts the date in late May or June rather than November 1.

Allhallowtide: the three-day observance

All Saints Day opens Allhallowtide, the three-day triduum (October 31 - November 2) that frames the Western Christian calendar's annual turn toward the dead. The three days are: October 31, All Hallows' Eve (modern Halloween); November 1, All Saints Day (All Hallows' Day); and November 2, All Souls Day. Together they form a continuous observance in which the saints (November 1) are celebrated, the souls of the departed faithful (November 2) are remembered in prayer, and the night between (October 31) marks the traditional liminal moment when the living and the dead were believed to draw closest.

The English word Halloween is a contraction of All Hallows' Eve. Modern Halloween as observed in the United States, Canada, the UK, and Ireland derives from the Celtic Samhain festival combined with the Christian All Saints / All Souls triduum. The Christian elements were layered on top of older pagan practices, particularly in Ireland and the British Isles, and the syncretism is visible in continued folk traditions.

Theological meaning

All Saints Day honors the full communion of saints - the canonized (those formally recognized by the Church) and the vast majority of saints known only to God. The feast is built on Revelation 7:9 - 17 and 1 Corinthians 1:2, which speak of a great multitude of saints from every nation. The feast emphasizes the doctrine of the communion of saints: the spiritual bond between the living faithful on earth, the souls in purgatory, and the saints in heaven.

All Saints Day is distinguished from All Souls Day in Catholic theology. All Saints Day (November 1) honors those already in heaven, who need no intercessory prayer. All Souls Day (November 2) is dedicated to praying for the souls of the departed who are in purgatory, awaiting purification before entry into heaven. The Catholic doctrine of purgatory was rejected by most Protestant churches during the Reformation; Anglican and Lutheran churches retained All Saints Day but generally do not observe All Souls Day.

How it is observed

In Catholic-majority countries, All Saints Day is marked by Mass attendance, visits to the graves of relatives, the lighting of candles for the dead, and prayers for the souls in purgatory. In Mexico, All Saints Day (combined with All Souls Day on November 2) is the major Day of the Dead observance (Dia de los Muertos). In the Philippines, All Saints Day is a major family occasion with overnight cemetery vigils, food offerings, and tomb-cleaning. In Italy, families traditionally leave a lit candle and a place setting at the family altar for deceased relatives.

In Protestant countries that retain All Saints Day (Germany, the Nordic countries, parts of the UK), the observance is generally liturgical - a Sunday service with scripture readings and hymns honoring the saints - rather than cemetery-based. In Anglican churches, All Saints Day is one of the principal feasts and is marked by readings from Revelation and the Beatitudes.

Public holiday status

All Saints Day is a statutory public holiday (gesetzlicher Feiertag) in Germany (where it is called Allerheiligen), Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, and most Catholic-majority countries in Latin America. It is not a public holiday in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the Scandinavian countries, the United States, or Canada, though it is observed liturgically in Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches on November 1 (or the following Sunday in some Anglican and Lutheran traditions).

In Germany, where All Saints Day is called Allerheiligen, it is a gesetzlicher Feiertag in all 16 federal states except Saxony and Thuringia, which observe Reformation Day on the same date instead. Schools, banks, and most businesses close. The day falls within the German autumn school break (Herbstferien) in most states, and many families use the long weekend to visit cemeteries and decorate graves with chrysanthemums and grave lights.

In other countries

In Latin America, All Saints Day is widely observed on November 1 and forms the first day of the Day of the Dead celebrations, which run through November 2. Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador treat the two-day observance as a single cultural event. In Brazil, the observance is condensed into Finados (November 2), which is a national public holiday.

In the Philippines, All Saints Day (Undas) is the largest family observance of the year. Families clean and decorate graves, hold overnight vigils in cemeteries, share meals, and pray the rosary. Traffic on the days surrounding November 1 is among the heaviest of the year as millions of Filipinos return to their home provinces.

Where it is contested

All Saints Day is broadly accepted in Catholic and mainline Protestant traditions. The Reformed tradition (Calvinist) historically declined to observe All Saints Day, regarding the cult of saints as inconsistent with sola scriptura. In the Netherlands, which is largely Reformed in its Protestant history, All Saints Day is not a public holiday. In Scotland, the observance was suppressed after the Reformation and has only been revived in recent decades as ecumenical interest in the sanctoral cycle has grown.

All Saints Day by the numbers

Sources

• Vatican.va, "All Saints Day": vatican.va
• Encyclopedia Britannica, "All Saints' Day": britannica.com
• Library of Congress, "All Saints' Day": loc.gov