- It was a long standing Catholic tradition
- It was celebrated between the night of November 1st (All Saints’ Day) and November 2nd (Day of the Faithful Departed)
- That night the poor (especially children) went door to door asking for food, and in exchange they offered to pray for the souls of the deceased loved ones of the families who helped them <- This is how the tradition of going door to door was born
- Catholic families anticipated this day and prepared food in advance to give to those who came asking
- Wealthier families prepared sweet little cakes (which were a luxury at that time) and these over time came to be called “soul cakes” <- This is how the tradition of giving “sweets” was born
- This celebration was accompanied by the lighting of candles to commemorate the deceased, the carving of improvised lanterns in dried vegetables, and the occasional ringing of the church bells <- This is how the tradition of candles and carved pumpkins was born
- This tradition remained alive in Europe until the 16th century, when it began to disappear in some places due to the advance of the Protestant Church, who rejected the idea of praying for the souls of the dead (because they did not believe in purgatory) and who prohibited ringing the church bells for that reason
- Later, around the year 1900, it began to lose its original meaning in almost the entire world, being celebrated on October 31st and increasingly oriented toward witchcraft, the culture of death, and vandalism practices like “trick or treat”
- Finally, between 1900 and 1980, the media established the horror aesthetic and the meaning that this date currently has, causing it to radically lose the meaning it holds in the collective unconscious
This November 1st I invite everyone to pray for the souls of the deceased people and to practice charity with those who have the least
Perhaps one day we can recover the beautiful original meaning that this date had and should never have lost