re: Anyone else hate Halloween?

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Observed as a holy day of obligation in parts of Western Europe from as early as the year 835, the Feast of All Saints has for centuries begun at vespers on the evening prior, October 31, following the custom of all Sundays and solemnities. Halloween thus announces the earliest possible celebration of the Solemnity of All Saints, a devotional response to a largely pagan world.

Like many feasts on the liturgical calendar, Halloween is an instance of syncretism, the intentioned consecration to God of a formerly pagan festal celebration. The Old Celtic calendar had observed November 1 as the first day of the year, which made October 31 the Old Celtic calendar’s “New Year’s Eve,” a “night of all the witches.”[1] In order to turn the attention of the faithful towards God and away from divination, astrology, clairvoyance, magic, sorcery, occult powers, and spiritism (see Exodus 20:1-3, Deuteronomy 5:6-7, and CCC 2115-17), the Church situated the Solemnity of All Saints in a manner which would turn the evil of pagan culture to some good. No longer would the evening be devoted to “all witches” or “all evil ones”; instead October 31 would be dedicated to All Saints.

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There is one woman in my neighborhood who sees Halloween as being akin to devil worship.

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