Christian Holidays · After Pentecost
All Saints' Day
A feast honouring all the saints, known and unknown.
When: 1 November in the West; the first Sunday after Pentecost in Eastern churches
Origin and history
All Saints' Day honours all the saints of the Church, including the many who have no feast of their own. Early Christians kept days for all the martyrs on different dates in different places. On 13 May 609 or 610, Pope Boniface IV dedicated the ancient Pantheon in Rome to the Virgin Mary and all the martyrs. In the 9th century the Western Church set the date of 1 November for the commemoration of all saints.
Customs
- Church services; in Western churches the celebration begins on the evening of 31 October.
- Visiting cemeteries with flowers, candles and prayers where the day is a public holiday.
- In Germany, godparents give their godchildren a plaited sweet bread; in Portugal children still go souling.
How traditions differ
All Saints' Day is a solemnity for Catholics and a festival for Lutherans; in Anglicanism the season of Allhallowtide extends to Remembrance Sunday. Eastern Orthodox churches celebrate All Saints on the first Sunday after Pentecost.
In the library
More in After Pentecost
Trinity Sunday · Corpus Christi · Nativity of St John the Baptist · Sts Peter and Paul · Michaelmas · All Hallows' Eve · Reformation Day · All Souls' Day · St Martin's Day (Martinmas) · Christ the King
Sources checked: All Saints' Day (Wikipedia).