Danse Macabre by Bernt Notke (15th Century)
Really there’s no point writing about Halloween. The origin of the holiday is covered elsewhere in more detail than you can ever possibly desire. (Just google it.)The debates within Christianity about whether Halloween should Christians should celebrate Halloween is covered elsewhere in more detail than one can possibly desire. (Ditto with the Google). And pretty much everyone knows how to celebrate Halloween if they are celebrating it ; and how not to if not.
The only thing worth noting about Halloween is its name. Halloween is the contraction for “All Hallow’s Eve,” which is to say the night before All Hallows/Hallow Mas (Holy Mass) All Saint’s Day. As the evening before a major festival in the Church, most people prepared their souls by coming to church and making confession, which is why a young, frustrated professor chose that date to tack up a notice on the bulletin board of a church near his University. He figured, if he posted it then and there, a lot of people would read it.
He got that right.
Martin Luther Posting the Ninety-Five Theses
