Halloween? No All Hallows Eve? Yes Reformation Day? Yes All Hallows Eve insted of Halloween Originally the word was a contraction for All Hallows' Eve, thus Hallow'een, as if Hallow' Eve.
But the eve of what and what does it mean? Hallow means holy or holy ones as in the "hallowed be thy name" from the lords prayer.
Just as Our Father who art in Heaven is Holy, and so are the Saints, and the Hallows in Hallow'een refer to the Saints.
The next day, 1 November is All Saints Day so Halloween is the Eve of All Saints Day, thus All Hallows' Eve.
Well the forces of darkness, the witches, demons, devils, skeletons, ghouls and goblins are scared to death of the Saints who are marching in the next day, All Saints Day.
Halloween is a day to celebrate the Victory of the Saints over Evil forces, who are being chased out of their many hiding places by the forces of the Light of Jesus Christ.
Reformation Day On October 31 in the Year of Our Lord Jesus 1517, Martin Luther posted his world changing Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the church in Wittenberg, Germany that protested the false teachings that have invaded too much of the church.
That act essentially began to have the Saints, the believers in Jesus Christ, start to Reform the church, to chase from the church the forces of evil that had invaded it.
The actual start of the Reformation came with John Wycliffe, born in Yorkshire in 1330, who died in Lutterworth, England in 1384, who is known as the "Morning Star of the Reformation" because he translated the Holy Bible into the English language so the people could read the Words of God, not rely solely on what the priests in the church told them the Bible said.
When Wycliffe wrote his translation of the Holy Bible, it had to be done by hand lettering, a slow processs.
Yet the influence of the Wycliffe Bible was so great that forty years after he died, his skeleton was dug up, the bones burned, and the ashes thrown into the River, and from there they flowed into the ocean and touched every land of the world.
That story of Wycliffe certainly relates to the presence of skeletons and graveyards that is part of the Halloween lore.
Yet in 1436, the Gutenberg printing press was created, a short 36 miles away from Wittenberg, that allowed the Holy Bible and the writings of Martin Luther to be reprinted and widely distributed that fostered the rapid growth of the Reformation.
So now when you go out on Halloween, consider dressing as a Saint or as an Angel of Good, as an Angel of the Truth of Jesus Christ, who conquers evil in every day and age, and conquer the evil of the modern Halloween Night by sharing Gospel Tracts, sharing the Holy Bible and telling the True Story of Halloween, the Eve of All Saints Day.
Oh, when the saints go marching in We are trav'ling in the footsteps Of those who've gone before, And we'll all be reunited, On a new and sunlit shore, Oh, when the saints go marching in Oh, when the saints go marching in Lord, how I want to be in that number When the saints go marching in And when the sun refuse to shine And when the sun refuse to shine Lord, how I want to be in that number When the sun refuse to shine And when the moon turns red with blood And when the moon turns red with blood Lord, how I want to be in that number When the moon turns red with blood Oh, when the trumpet sounds its call Oh, when the trumpet sounds its call Lord, how I want to be in that number When the trumpet sounds its call Some say this world of trouble, Is the only one we need, But I'm waiting for that morning, When the new world is revealed.
-By Katharine Purvis