Halloween Is Not the Devil’s Holiday: Uncovering Its Deeply Catholic Roots

Halloween Is Not the Devil’s Holiday: Uncovering Its Deeply Catholic Roots

Every October, as jack-o’-lanterns flicker on porches and children don costumes, a familiar chorus rises from certain corners of the Christian world: “Halloween is the devil’s holiday!” Sermons warn of occult doorways, tracts decry pagan corruption, and anxious parents pull their kids from trick-or-treating lest they unwittingly pledge allegiance to darkness. The accusation is emotionally charged and culturally persistent, yet it collapses under even modest historical scrutiny. Halloween is not a satanic invention, a pagan survival, or a modern marketing ploy co-opted by evil. It is, at its core, a Catholic feast—one whose origins lie in the Church’s ancient calendar, whose customs grew from medieval piety, and whose very name announces its sacred purpose: All Hallows’ Eve, the vigil of All Saints’ Day.

In this post, we will walk through the liturgical, historical, and cultural evidence that demonstrates Halloween’s Catholic identity. We will trace the feast from seventh-century Rome to the Celtic missions, from medieval Christendom to the American parish festival. Along the way we will dismantle the most common objections—pagan continuity, jack-o’-lantern demons, costume witchcraft—and show how each supposed “pagan” element was baptized, reoriented, and pressed into the service of the Gospel. By the end, the reader will see Halloween not as a compromise with the world but as a triumph of the Church’s missionary genius: the same impulse that turned pagan temples into basilicas and winter solstice fires into Christmas lights.

 I. The Liturgical Anchor: All Hallows’ Eve

The word “Halloween” is a contraction of “All Hallows’ Even,” meaning the evening before All Hallows’ (or All Saints’) Day. In the traditional Catholic calendar, major feasts begin at sunset the previous day—hence Christmas Eve, Easter Vigil, and All Hallows’ Eve. The Roman Martyrology still lists November 1 as the Solemnity of All Saints, a first-class feast instituted to honor “all the saints in heaven, known and unknown.” Its vigil, October 31, is therefore inseparable from the feast it prepares.

The establishment of All Saints’ Day is usually dated to 609 or 610, when Pope Boniface IV consecrated the Pantheon in Rome—formerly a temple to “all gods” (pagan divinities)—as the Basilica of Saint Mary and All Martyrs. On May 13 of that year, Boniface processed with twenty-eight wagonloads of martyrs’ bones from the catacombs and deposited them beneath the altar. The anniversary of this dedication became a yearly commemoration of all martyrs. By the mid-eighth century, Pope Gregory III moved the feast to November 1 and expanded it to include not only martyrs but all saints. Gregory IV extended the observance to the universal Church in 835. From that moment forward, October 31 became the vigil.

Liturgical documents confirm the vigil’s antiquity. The Leonine Sacramentary (c. 600) contains a Mass “in natale sanctae Mariae et omnium martyrum” for May 13. The Gelasian Sacramentary (c. 750) already shows Masses for November 1 under the title “In natali omnium sanctorum.” By the ninth century, the vigil Mass “Ad vesperas sanctae Dei genetricis Mariae et omnium martyrum” appears in Carolingian missals. These texts are not pagan holdovers; they are Latin prayers addressed to the Triune God, invoking the intercession of the Blessed Virgin and the entire heavenly court.

The vigil character of October 31 shaped its popular customs. Medieval Christians kept vigils with prayer, fasting, and almsgiving—practices that spilled into the streets. Bells tolled at dusk to call the faithful to Vespers; families visited cemeteries to light candles on graves; the poor went door-to-door begging “soul cakes” in exchange for prayers for the dead. Every one of these practices is documented in Church records long before any supposed pagan revival.

 II. The Celtic Question: Samhain and Christian Mission

Critics frequently claim Halloween derives from Samhain, a Celtic harvest festival marking the end of summer. Samhain (pronounced “SOW-in”) did exist; Irish annals record it as one of four seasonal quarter-days. Folklore describes bonfires, feasting, and a thinning of boundaries between worlds. Modern pagans and some evangelical writers leap from these fragments to the conclusion that Halloween is “Samhain lite.”

Historical rigor demands more. First, Samhain was not a pan-Celtic Satan-fest. Irish sources—annals, law texts, sagas—mention it primarily as a time for assemblies, horse races, and royal judgments. Supernatural elements appear in later Christian-era tales (e.g., the Táin cycle), but these are literary motifs, not liturgical prescriptions. Second, the Church did not “baptize” Samhain; she evangelized the people who kept it. When St. Patrick kindled the Paschal fire on Slane in 433, he was not negotiating with druids—he was proclaiming Christ’s victory over every power.

The November 1 date for All Saints was chosen in Rome, not Ireland. Gregory III and Gregory IV were continental popes responding to Frankish and Roman needs, not Celtic pressure. Irish monasteries adopted the Roman date in the ordinary course of liturgical unification. The Book of Armagh (c. 807) already lists “Félire na Naomh Uile” (Feast of All Saints) on November 1. The earliest Irish reference to a vigil on October 31 comes from the tenth-century Martyrology of Tallaght, which simply says “Vigil of All Saints.”

What about the bonfires? Medieval Irish Christians lit fires on All Hallows’ Eve to honor the light of the saints, not to ward off spirits. The twelfth-century Leabhar Breac explains that “fires were kindled in Ireland to the glory of God and in honor of the saints.” Costumes? Monks and nuns sometimes processed in albs or as biblical figures during mystery plays—dramatic catechesis, not disguise to fool demons. Jack-o’-lanterns? Irish Catholics carved turnips with crosses or the Holy Face to carry in All Saints processions; the practice migrated to America with pumpkins.

The Samhain theory requires us to believe that a marginalized pagan festival survived a millennium of monastic Christianity only to reassert itself in the Catholic Middle Ages—precisely when the Church was at the height of her cultural power. The timeline is impossible. Samhain’s folklore was recorded by Christian scribes; its customs were reinterpreted through a Catholic lens. The Church did not adopt Samhain; she absorbed the Irish imagination and redirected it toward heaven.

 III. Medieval Piety: Soul Cakes, Poor Souls, and the Dance of Death

By the High Middle Ages, All Hallows’ Eve had become a communal preparation for the double feast of All Saints (November 1) and All Souls (November 2). The doctrine of purgatory—formally defined at Lyons II (1274) and Florence (1439)—gave theological urgency to praying for the dead. October 31 became a night of intercession.

The custom of “souling” is documented in English parish accounts from the thirteenth century. Poor adults and children went door-to-door singing:

A soul cake, a soul cake,  Have mercy on all Christian souls for a soul cake.

In return, households gave small wheat cakes stamped with a cross. The 1593 Churchwardens’ Accounts of St. Peter’s, Cornwall, record payment “to the soulers on All Hallows Even.” The prayer was explicit: each cake represented a suffrage for the departed. Shakespeare alludes to the practice in The Two Gentlemen of Verona (c. 1593): “I am sent with broom before, / To sweep the dust behind the door”—a line echoing the souler’s rhyme.

Cemeteries stayed open late. Families cleaned graves, left flowers, and lit beeswax candles whose flames symbolized the soul’s ascent. The 1422 will of London merchant John Borell bequeaths “twenty pounds of wax to be made into tapers to burn on the graves of my parents on All Hallows’ Eve.” Far from fearing the dead, Catholics invited them to the banquet of prayer.

Mystery plays and morality pageants filled town squares. The Danse Macabre—first painted in the Cemetery of the Innocents, Paris, in 1424—showed Death leading pope, emperor, and peasant in a chain, reminding all to prepare for judgment. Children dressed as saints, angels, or souls in purgatory acted out these dramas. A 1486 ordinance from York mandates “the pageant of All Hallows with the souls in purgatory” to be performed “on the eve thereof.”

These customs were not fringe; they were mainstream Catholic devotion. Indulgences were attached to souling and cemetery visits. The 1476 Manipulus Curatorum of Guido of Monte Rochen instructs priests to encourage the faithful “to go about on the vigil of All Saints offering prayers for the dead.” The Church saw no danger—only opportunity to catechize through joy.

 IV. The Reformation Fracture and the American Revival

The Protestant Reformation disrupted these traditions. Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses appeared on All Saints’ Eve, 1517—an ironic coincidence, since the indulgence trade he attacked was tied to All Souls devotions. English reformers banned souling, destroyed mystery-play stages, and suppressed All Souls’ Day. The 1552 Book of Common Prayer reduced All Saints to a minor observance and eliminated the vigil entirely.

Yet Catholic immigrants kept the customs alive. In Maryland, founded as a Catholic colony, All Hallows’ Eve processions continued into the eighteenth century. The 1764 journal of Jesuit missionary Joseph Mosley records “the children of the parish going about with lanterns for the souls in purgatory.” When Irish famine refugees arrived in the 1840s, they brought turnip lanterns, soul-cake rhymes, and a fierce devotion to the saints. American bishops encouraged the revival. The 1884 Catholic World editorialized: “Let us reclaim All Hallows’ Eve from the grasp of the worldly and restore it to its proper character as a preparation for the feast of All Saints.”

Parish Halloween parties became standard by the 1920s. The 1935 Manual for Catholic Action recommends “All Saints’ masquerades where children dress as their patron saints, followed by games and refreshments.” Photographs from Chicago’s Holy Name Cathedral show hundreds of children in Francis of Assisi robes, Joan of Arc armor, and Thérèse of Lisieux veils—costumes that taught hagiography, not witchcraft.

 V. Dismantling the Objections

Objection 1: “Trick-or-treating is pagan begging.”  

Souling predates any supposed druidic precedent by centuries. The transaction is prayer for food—an act of mercy rooted in Matthew 25.

Objection 2: “Costumes glorify witches and demons.”  

Historically, children dressed as saints and angels. Modern secular costumes are a deviation, not the origin. Catholic families reclaim the practice by choosing holy figures.

Objection 3: “Jack-o’-lanterns ward off evil spirits.”  

Irish Catholics carved crosses into turnips to symbolize Christ’s victory. The folklore of “Stingy Jack” is a moral tale warning against greed, not a demon summoning.

Objection 4: “The Church adopted pagan dates to lure converts.”  

The November 1 date was set in Rome for liturgical reasons. Missionaries used local imagery—fire, harvest, community—but always subordinated it to Christ.

Objection 5: “Halloween glorifies death.”  

Catholicism confronts death head-on. The skull on a Carmelite habit, the memento mori in art, the Dies Irae—all remind us that Christ has conquered the grave.

 VI. A Catholic Halloween: Practical Restoration

Families can reclaim the feast:

1. Attend Vigil Mass – Many parishes offer an evening Mass on October 31.

2. Dress as Saints – Host a “Saints and Heroes” party; award prizes for best hagiography presentation.

3. Soul Cakes – Bake currant buns stamped with a cross; distribute while praying the Eternal Rest.

4. Cemetery Visit – Light candles at graves and sing the Salve Regina.

5. All Saints Litany – Process through the house with holy water and icons.

 Conclusion

Halloween is not the devil’s holiday; it is the Church’s. From the Roman Pantheon to the Irish crossroads, from medieval soul cakes to American parish halls, every thread of the celebration traces back to Catholic doctrine: the communion of saints, the efficacy of prayer for the dead, the triumph of light over darkness. The secular carnival that now dominates October 31 is a johnny-come-lately distortion, not the essence. When Catholics celebrate All Hallows’ Eve with prayer, charity, and holy joy, they participate in a tradition older than the Reformation, deeper than folklore, and more powerful than any accusation. The saints are marching in, and the Church militant is ready to welcome them.

 Sources

- Roman Martyrology (2004 edition)

- Boniface IV, Epistola ad Mellitum (601)

- Gregory III, Decretale ad Bonifacium (732)

- Gelasian Sacramentary (Vat. Reg. lat. 316)

- Martyrology of Tallaght (c. 830)

- Leabhar Breac (c. 1410)

- York Mystery Plays ordinances (1486)

- Guido of Monte Rochen, Manipulus Curatorum (1476)

- St. Peter’s Cornwall Churchwardens’ Accounts (1593)

- Joseph Mosley, SJ, Journal (1764)

- Catholic World (November 1884)

- Manual for Catholic Action (1935)