All Hallows Eve
20th October 2025 by | Uncategorized
All Hallows’ Eve, now referred to as Halloween (31 Oct), is the evening before All Saints’ Day—a Christian vigil that, in Britain and Ireland, grew alongside older seasonal customs marking the turn into winter. Medieval communities kept the Hallowtide (All Hallows’ Eve, All Saints, All Souls) with prayer for the dead and acts of remembrance.
Over centuries, local practices layered on:
· Souling: the poor visited houses for food in return for prayers for the departed.
· Guising & mumming: costumed visits and performance; later, trick-or-treat in the US and now the UK.
· Turnip lanterns (Scotland/Ireland), later pumpkins in America and UK
· Bonfires and warding rituals at the darkening of the year.
Today, Halloween is global and commercial—but at its core lies memory and community: the names we keep, the losses we mark, and the stories we tell when nights draw in.
Myths to ditch: it isn’t “purely pagan,” nor purely modern. It’s a braid of Christian vigil and seasonal folk custom, retold by each generation.
Gemma
www.murderinthetower.london
The past is never silent
#AllHallowsEve #Hallowtide #Folklore