Halloween and Day of the Dead: How Satan Hijacked All Hallows Eve and All Souls Day
All Hallows Eve belongs to the triduum known as Allhallowtide, also known as Allhallowmass. November 1st is the solemn feast of All Saints, dedicated to the known and unknown Saints of Heaven. November 2nd is All Souls Day, dedicated to the Poor Souls of Purgatory. All Hallows Eve is the vigil which precedes these two feast days.
The word Hallow comes from the Greek agiazo and is where we get the English word Halo. It means to sanctify, to become holy, and to consecrate. All Hallows literally means All Holy. And so the term Halloween is a derivative of All Hallows Eve, which essentially means the eve (or vigil) of All Hallows (Holy) Day and All Souls Day. These feasts find their Christian roots in the dogmas concerning the Communion (and by extension, Intercession) of the Saints, as well as Purgatory.
Beginning in the 4th century, upon the cessation of Christian persecution, churches in Antioch and Syria began commemorating a feast for Christian martyrs, known as All Martyrs Day. In the early 7th century, Pope Boniface IV took a Roman temple dedicated to “all gods” and transformed it into a Christian chapel dedicated to All Saints. Coinciding with the practice found in Antioch and Syria, the feast of All Saints Day was then celebrated on May 13th, in the Easter season.
The date of the Feast was changed by Pope Gregory III in the 7th century to November 1st, since that was the day of the dedication of the chapel of All Saints. Finally, it was in the 9th century when Pope Gregory IV made All Saints Day a universally recognized feast day for the Church. Since it was now a major feast, the vigil was celebrated on October 31st, and was called All Hallows Eve.
At the dawn of the turn of the millennium, in the year 998 AD, a holy Benedictine abbot named St. Odilo of Cluny established the feast All Souls Day for November 2nd, initially intended solely for the monasteries of Cluny, as a feast to pray for the Souls of Purgatory. This practice began to spread to different parts of the Church, and finally was recognized by Rome in the 13th century. With All Hallows Eve, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day being established, we now have the rubrics in place for Allhallowtide.
Today, Halloween is a secular holiday hyper inspired by pagan and Satanic elements through and through. While some will try to put the focus towards the Catholic elements, it is simply an objective statement of fact that secular society by and large does not treat Halloween as a vigil for All Saints Day and All Souls Day. Many good intentioned Catholics try to emphasize the Christian roots behind the modern practice, but the godless culture places its focus primarily on the elements which are anti Christian in practice.
The pagan origins of modern Halloween derive largely from the influence of the Celtic celebration of Samhain. Who are the Celts? Historically, they are descendants of Noah’s grandson Gomer, who was the son of Japheth. Gomer is listed as the eldest son of Japheth in Genesis 10:2, and he belongs to post flood genealogies. Genesis 10:32 tells us, “By these were the nations divided on the earth after the flood.”
Jewish historian Josephus, in “Antiquities of the Jews,” says that the people of Galatia are linked to Gomer, and the Galatians were a Celtic people. The Galatians descended from the Celts who invaded Greece in the 3rd century BC. These are the same Galatians that St. Paul writes to in the New Testament. As well, medieval texts such as “Historia Brittonum” by Nennius and “Historia Regum Britanniae” by Geoffrey of Monmouth also link Gomer to the origins of the Celtic people. The 19th century Encyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature by Strong and McClintock notes, “The whole Celtic race may therefore be regarded as descended from Gomer.”
While there is scholarly debate as to the meaning of the term Samhain itself, some have suggested it loosely refers to an “assembly of the living and the dead.” Ranko Matasovic, the Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic, notes, “The original meaning of samoni would be assembly of the living and the dead.” Samhain was a pagan celebration of occultic necromancy, which is conjuring up the dead for the purposes of communicating, and having fellowship, with them.
The Encyclopedia Britannica writes, “In ancient Britain and Ireland, the Celtic Festival of Samhain was observed on October 31, at the end of summer… The souls of the dead were supposed to revisit their homes on this day and the autumnal festival acquired sinister significance, with ghosts, witches, goblins, black cats, fairies, and demons of all kinds said to be roaming about. It was the time to placate the supernatural powers controlling the processes of nature… It was the only day on which the help of the devil was invoked for such purposes (marriage, luck, health, and death).”
Interestingly, the earliest written evidence of the Irish celebration of Samhain come to us primarily from the 9th and 10th centuries. Irish mythology holds that Samhain, which was celebrated on November 1st, was a time where portals to the otherworld were opened, allowing for the souls of the dead to come to our realm once again. Medieval literature such as the Lebor Gabala Erenn tragically notes that firstborn children had to be offered as a sacrifice on Samhain. Human sacrifice in general to appease gods of the dead are found in literature throughout this era when speaking about Samhain.
Ritual bonfires were also common at Samhain celebrations, with druids offering sacrifices to their gods. They were also used in occultic divination practices, in which people would try to gain information on their future especially in regards to their deaths. Apples were used as they were associated with immortality, and hazelnuts were used since they symbolized divine wisdom.
The predominant belief of Samhain was the idea that spirits could cross over into our world. These were believed to be the spirits of pagan gods and nature spirits. These spirits needed to be appeased by the sacrifices of people. The souls of the dead were also prominent at Samhain celebrations, where they would revisit their homes either to bestow blessings or to bring curses.
The practice of jack-o-lanterns traces back to carved turnips that were used as lanterns in the Irish and also the Scottish observance of Samhain. They were often carved and hollowed out with grotesque faces for the purpose of warding off evil spirits. One historian, Ronald Hutton, in his book Stations of the Sun, also says that the lanterns represented the spirits of deities. It has also been suggested that the tradition of carved pumpkins originated with witches who would collect skulls and place candles in them to light the path to their coven meetings.
On that note, there is also precedent historically for Wiccans celebrating Samhain, which they consider the most important day of the year. In their rituals, they believe the spirits of the deceased can be conjured up to enjoy the festivities. They consider it to be their festival of darkness. Of course, Christianity would see these conjured up spirits not as actual deceased people, but legitimate demons.
Trick-or-treating also appears to stem from ancient Celtic practice among the Druids. In his book “Celebrations: The Complete Book of American Holidays,” author Robert Myers writes, “The ghosts that were thought to throng about the houses of the living were greeted with a banquet-laden table. At the end of the feast, masked and costumed villagers representing the souls of the dead paraded to the outskirts of town leading the ghosts away.”
Celebrations honoring the dead can be found in pagan cultures historically throughout the world in antiquity. Whether Europe, North America, South America, throughout Asia, Oceana; all have festivals to honor the dead. Most likely, this was ingrained within cultural histories stemming back to the practice of Noah, who offered sacrifices to God upon leaving the Ark. “And Noe built an altar unto the Lord, and taking of all cattle and fowls that were clean, offered holocausts upon the altar” (Genesis 8:20). In response to this, God says in Genesis 8:21, “I will no more destroy every living soul as I have done.”
After the scattering of nations from the Tower of Babel, cultures would have developed this practice to have feasts and sacrifices commemorating the dead. The problem is man’s constant tendency to forget God, and to be influenced and corrupted by Satan in his efforts. This explains the influx pagan practices into these cultures, with worship of false gods and of nature running rampant.
What does paganism mean? Many people hear this word but few really know how to define it. Paganism is a polytheistic and pantheistic nature-worshipping religion. This means either the worship of a multitude of gods, or a system where nature or the objects of the universe or the creations of man are worshipped as deities.
Let us recall St. Paul’s inspired words from Romans 1:19-25, which essentially gives us the origin of paganism: “Because that which is known of God is manifest in them. For God hath manifested it unto them. For the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made; his eternal power also, and divinity: so that they are inexcusable. Because that, when they knew God, they have not glorified him as God, or given thanks; but became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. For professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. And they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of the image of a corruptible man, and of birds, and of fourfooted beasts, and of creeping things. Wherefore God gave them up to the desires of their heart, unto uncleanness, to dishonour their own bodies among themselves. Who changed the truth of God into a lie; and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.”
Celtic historian Emmett McIntyre, in an interview with contemporary pagan and wiccan historian Dr. Jenny Butler, notes: “The ancestry of modern Halloween… leads on a straight line back to Samhain, the Celtic feast day of the Dead.” McIntyre argues that Samhain was the principal feast day of Celtic Ireland prior to the arrival of Christianity. Butler admits that there is “relatively little information that specifically relates to the observance of Samhain in pre-Christian Ireland.” Many of the Samhain traditions were brought over by Irish and Scottish immigrants to America throughout the 19th and early 20th century.
In the interview with McIntyre, Butler says the elements of Samhain which have taken precedence in the modern secular practice of Halloween. She notes the themes of divination and spirits of deceased relatives haunting their old homes, as well as traces carved pumpkins to the hollowed out turnips. She also mentions costumes as originating with the practice of disguising the living so that angry spirits could not identify them.
Authors Carol Barkin and Elizabeth James, in “The Holiday Handbook,” regarding costumes, write, “In Ireland especially, people thought that ghosts and spirits roamed after dark on Halloween. They lit candles or lanterns to keep the spirits away, and if they had to go outside, they wore costumes and masks to frighten the spirits or to keep from being recognized by these unearthly beings.”
Catholic scholar Dr. Marian Horvat notes that Allhallowtide was celebrated with parades and dressing up in costumes as saints and angels. She writes, “This was the wise way the missionary Church acted in face of this pagan feast that she transformed. She ordered the customs and habits that existed among a people to the Catholic Religion.” As some phrase it, the Church “baptized” the pagan customs and reordered the purpose behind the practices and festivities to conform them to the truth.
As the Church prudently replaced pagan customs with distinctly Catholic traditions, today we see the exact opposite happening. Long held Catholic traditions are now being replaced by ancient pagan practices, which are occultic and satanic in nature. Rather than placing an emphasis on the Saints in glory and the Poor Souls in Purgatory, the modern celebration of Halloween focuses on glamorizing and normalizing horror, evil, demons, and Satan. This is why we see such a focus on witches, vampires, skeletons, ghosts, blood, monsters, gore, Ouija boards, immodesty, and immorality.
It is painfully obvious to anyone with eyes to see that we no longer live in a culture that retains any semblance of a Christian identity or foundation. Whereas in times past, holy Christian missionaries would evangelize pagan lands, today the exact opposite has become the reality. Pagan ideals have converted lax and lukewarm Christians, who now compromise in droves to celebrate pagan festivities.
In 2023, Americans spent well over $12 billion on Halloween, a record high in history. Over $4 billion was spent on costumes, $4 billion on decorations, and over $3 billion on candy. Pet costumes alone profited over $700 million. It is easy to see that Halloween is a very profitable secular holiday. Is this not a distraction from the real focus of All Hallows Eve from the Catholic perspective? It absolutely is a distraction. The work done by Saints and Catholic missionaries in promoting the Feast Days of this Triduum has been largely undone by Satanic pagan practices in the modern secular culture. And souls fall right into it.
St. John writes, “Follow not that which is evil” (3 John 1:11). Some translations note it as, “Do not imitate what is evil.” The Greek word used here is “me mimou” which means, “Do not have the habit of imitating.” This term is where we derive the English “mimic.” St. John is saying, “Do not mimic evil.” We ought to reflect on this given the practices associated with the secular holiday of Halloween.
On a day that now glorifies witches, ghosts, demons, corpses, and other like minded things, let us look to St. Paul’s admonition in Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think on these things.” St. Paul also writes, “Avoid every kind of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:22).
Jeremiah 10:2-3 warns, “Do not learn the ways of the nations… For the customs of the peoples are worthless.” Deuteronomy 18:9 exhorts, “Do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations.” It is one thing to inject truth and sanctity into existing customs for the purposes of teaching the truth through cultural practice, but it is another to celebrate the ways and customs of pagan practices, under the control of Satan, and utterly ignore the sacred truths of Catholic Feast Days.
Sadly, many Catholics today have been compromised by the world. They will go all out for secular Halloween, and even worse, they will fall into sinful practices, but then will miss Mass on All Saints Day (Holy Day of Obligation) and completely forget about the Poor Souls in Purgatory. They will literally imitate the worthless and detestable ways of pagans, rather than place the focus on the Church’s celebration of this holy and sacred Triduum.
St. Paul says, “I would not that you should be made partakers with devils. You cannot drink the chalice of the Lord, and the chalice of devils: you cannot be partakers of the table of the Lord, and of the table of devils” (1 Corinthians 10:20-21). The Greek word for “partakers” is “koinono,” which refers to engagement, involvement, fellowship, or participation.
Samain was an occultic and demonic celebration, in stark contrast to the Feast Days which honor the Saints and encourage prayers for the Souls in Purgatory. The modern secular practice of Halloween is essentially a rebirth of Samhain. Catholics need to be on guard with this reality.
With all of this in mind, there are two overriding principles I would like to encourage regarding this topic. First, reclaim Halloween. We do this by celebrating the Triduum, making this our priority. Second, do not sensationalize the secular modern pagan aspects of the holiday which is just Samhain revisited.
To the first point, Catholics ought to raise their children through holy instruction as to the purpose behind the Feast Days. And those days ought to be celebrated accordingly. Children should be much more focused on All Saints Day and All Souls Day, and All Hallows Eve is a spiritual preparation for those great feasts.
Go to Mass on All Saints Day (it is, after all, a Holy Day of Obligation). And if possible, also attend Mass on All Souls Day, and visit your local cemetery to pray for the Poor Souls. Imagine how many souls will be freed from Purgatory and get to finally experience Heaven and the Beatific Vision.
To the second point, use discretion and wisdom in how you choose to celebrate All Hallows Eve. Consult a traditional spiritual director in this regard, and lean on his advice. There is nothing inherently wrong with costumes or candy or even pumpkins in general, but also keep in mind that we do not want to conform to the world. Many families create a tradition of dressing their children as saints or angels or likeminded ideas. Other houses may carve Bible verses or Saint images into pumpkins.
There are creative ways to celebrate, but I would encourage going through a spiritual director for discernment. Remember, the Church wisely took existing customs of pagan cultures and used creative ways to reorient them towards God and the truths of His Catholic Religion. Truthfully, it would be more appropriate to utilize the day as one of prayer, in order to spiritually prepare one’s soul for All Saints Day and All Souls Day.
Under no circumstances can it be justified having children dress up as witches or mass murderers or horror film idols. As well, in our modern culture with immorality at an all time high, can there be any good at all in having children go trick or treating to stranger’s houses? It serves no purpose. And adults have no excuse for going to secular parties, dressing in immodest costumes, and getting intoxicated. This would be such a dishonor to Almighty God on the vigil of a Feast that celebrates His Saints in Heaven, followed by a Feast that prays for the Church Suffering.
Knowing that Halloween today is treated as Samhain, we must seriously consider the sin of scandal by how we choose to participate in it. Placing the rightful focus towards All Hallows Eve being a vigil also serves as being a tremendous witness for lost souls that are on the wide path to perdition.
In summary, All Hallows Eve should be a day that assists others in pointing them towards God, not to Satan. In the words of St. Paul, “Be not conformed to this world; but be reformed in the newness of your mind, that you may prove what is the good, and the acceptable, and the perfect will.
Regarding the Day of the Dead, it is its own distinct pagan festival that has roots in the ancient Aztec culture, mixed in with Mexican folklore syncretism. It is often celebrated nowadays in lieu of All Souls Day. Some Catholics attempt to merge the two together. While missionaries of the past found creative ways to incorporate certain ideas within a Catholic framework (such as erecting a home altar to commemorate the souls of the Faithful Departed in need of prayer), we again see false beliefs often taking precedence in the modern day celebration.
The Aztecs had specific deities associated with death, one of which being Michtlantechuhtli, god of the dead and the underworld. They believed souls of the dead would journey to the afterlife, and offerings were made to ensure a safe passage. The Aztecs performed rituals which would include offerings of food and drinks that the deceased enjoyed in life, and this was seen as a way to appease the spirits and invite them back to the world of the living. It is not uncommon today for people to binge on alcohol, since they argue their deceased relatives enjoyed such drinks. This sadly takes the place of praying for their souls.
The Spanish missionaries of the 16th century incorporated these practices into a distinctly Catholic framework, and so the celebrations aligned with the observance of All Souls Day, and the emphasis shifted to praying for the souls of the departed. However, today, the false Aztec god of the dead has resurfaced and gained traction in Mexico since the late 20th century, under the name of Santa Muerte, or Saint Death. Santa Muerte is Satan, and is venerated and worshipped by many of Mexican descent in the modern day.
Santa Muerte is a combination of beliefs from the Aztec culture, indigenous beliefs, folk spirituality, Satanism, and Catholicism. Its origin comes from Hell itself. Devotees often create altars for her, adorned with flowers and candles, and praying for protection, health, and guidance.
Just as Samhain has taken the place of All Hallows Eve, even though we still call it All Hallows Eve, so too, Day of the Dead has taken the place of All Souls Day, even though many Catholics will still call it All Souls Day. These pagan and satanic practices ought to be renounced entirely, as they deceptively lead souls to Hell, and they do no favors at all for the souls of faithful departed. May we remember the Poor Souls of Purgatory through our prayers and Masses and sacrifices, and remove ourselves from the evil practices of ancient pagan and Satanic worship.
