Today is also Halloween—a traditional American holiday that has caused some consternation among Christians, given its emphasis on the macabre and its presumably pagan origins. It might seem that the day marking the beginning of the Reformation and Halloween would have nothing in common other than the fact that they both fall on October 31. However, I would suggest that there is more of a connection than that, one that involves the quintessential Halloween tradition—trick-or-treating.
Nowadays, trick-or-treating is merely an enjoyable activity for children. However, it has its origins in an activity that had rather important religious significance. In the traditional church calendar, November 1 was All Saints Day, a day to honor certain individuals designated by the Catholic Church as saints. In England, this day was referred to as All Hallows Day (hallow being an old word meaning “holy” or “saint”). Thus, the day before All Hallows Day was called “All Hallows Eve” or “All Hallows Even,” from which we get “Halloween.”During the Middle Ages, on All Hallows Eve children (and the poor) would walk from door to door asking for special type of food known as a “soul cake.” In return for these soul cakes, the children would offer to pray for the souls of dead members of a family, in order to hasten their exit from Purgatory. It is believed by some that this practice, which was called “souling,” became the basis for today’s trick-or-treating. Note that “souling” was firmly based on a belief in Purgatory and the idea that certain actions by the living could hasten the departure of the dead from
Purgatory.
In other words, a central part of today’s Halloween celebrations—trick-or-treating—echoes an ancient custom which reflected a belief in Purgatory and in the ability of the living to affect the circumstances of the dead in Purgatory. Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses brought such a belief into question, and, in turn, helped launch the Reformation. From Luther’s viewpoint, the concepts of indulgences and Purgatory contradicted the biblical
teachings that sins can only be forgiven through Christ’s death on the cross and that there is no penalty for sins that have been so forgiven. Consequently, seen from this perspective, Halloween and the beginning of the Reformation have more of a connection than merely a shared date. This is an example of why I find history so fascinating—there are so many unexpected--and seemingly unlikely--connections between one thing and another in the past.
Image: Martin Luther by Lucas Cranach, from commons.wikimedia.org