All Hallow's Eve Eve

Okay, so Halloween falls on a Sunday this year. It's bound to happen at least once every 14 years (7 days a week and a 50/50 chance of it being a leap year which could "leapfrog" Oct 31 from Saturday one year to Monday the next). As it is I've got to make sure I go to church that morning instead of playing guitar at the evening service so I can take my girls out for the Great Candy Shakedown. But, come ON, people! I just don't get people who say stuff like from this article.

"'It's a day for the good Lord, not for the devil,' said Barbara Braswell, who plans to send her 4-year-old granddaughter Maliyah out trick-or-treating in a princess costume on Saturday instead.

For on thing, the term "Halloween" comes from "Hallow e'en" which is a shorted form of "All Hallow's Evening". It marks the day before All Hallow's Day which is November 1. I remember taking my first communion on that day. It is a day of some, albeit forgotten, significance in Christendom. "Hallow" refers to the "hallowed ones" sometimes called "saints" (little "s"). As a matter of fact, November 1 is often referred to as "All Saint's Day". Maybe if the last day in October was known as "Saintseen" it would have a totally different connotation. Hallowed ones, or little-s saints, refers simply to the dead. The night before All Hallow's Day, tradition tells us, our dead relatives are allowed to walk the earth to check up on us. I believe this is exactly the tradition behind the Mexican Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead where we've seen pictures of people marching around with large skeletons around them. Though morbid, it is actually a sweet tradition to honor one's passed relatives.

Later, of course, as many people are uncomfortable with the dead walking around and probably due to the confusion of the word "Underworld", things took a more devilish turn. Underworld used to refer to the place where the dead went. You know, crossing the River Styx, ruled by Hades...ah, "Hades". Somewhere along the line, Hades got confused with Hell and now we can see where the satanic association may have been derived from.

Oh well...that ain't gonna help those poor trick-or-treaters down in Georgia.

But on the plus side, they do have some enterprising young'uns there. The article notes some kids are taking advantage of the double dose of trick-or-treating and going out both nights. At least they'll get a better return on their costume expense dollar.