All Saints' Day

All Saints' Day (in the Roman Catholic Church officially the Solemnity of All Saints and also called All Hallows or Hallowmas) often shortened to All Saints, is a solemnity celebrated on November 1st  in honor of all the saints, known and unknown. While we have information about many saints, and we honor them on specific days, there are many unknown or unsung saints, who may have been forgotten, or never been honored specifically. On All Saints Day, we celebrate these holy men and women, and ask for their prayers and intercessions. There is a special connection between the souls in purgatory (the “Church Suffering”), those in heaven (the “Church triumphant”), and the faithful who are still living in the world (the “Church militant”). The mutual prayers of the Church Triumphant, Suffering, and Militant are a channel of many graces for the Church, both living and suffering. We build each other up, praying for one another so that one day we may all enjoy the reward of Heaven.

Halloween is a date celebrated on the night of October 31st. Celebration is most practiced in the United States of America and Canada. Children wear costumes and they go to peoples' homes saying "Trick or treat!" to ask for candy, sweets in the United Kingdom, or lollies in Australia, and then people give it to them. This practice originally involved a threat. A threat is when someone says that they will do something bad if they do not get what they want. In this case the threat could be explained as: "Give me a treat or I will play a trick on you." Children today usually do not play tricks if they do not get treats. However, some children still get up to mischief (pranks or things to make fun of people like putting toilet paper in trees writing on windows with soap or throwing eggs at peoples' houses). People sometimes dress up as ghosts, witches, goblins and other scary things for Halloween.