[HPforGrownups] Halloween in tradition and the HP books (Was: My thoughts on the title)

[Jeremiah LaFleur]

No: HPFGUIDX 163286

 Carol responds:
I think you have All Hallows Eve (Halloween) mixed up with All Hallows
Day (All Saints Day). It's like the difference between Christmas Day
(december 25) and Christmas Eve (December 24) except that All Hallows
Eve and All Hallows Day have distinctly different traditions attached
to them.

As I said in another post, "halewis" or "halwes" is the Middle English
word for "saints." To elaborate a bit further on the etymology, the
Middle English holy day "Alhalwemesse," from Old English "ealra
hlgena mæsse" (All Saints' Mass), came to be called All Hallows Day or
All Saints' Day, not to be confused with All Saints' *Eve* or All
Hallows *Eve* (Hallow*een*).

But I absolutely agree that Halloween is Halloween in the stories and
has nothing to do with Samhain if only because JKR is Christian. It's
difficult, based on what we now know, to say whether the Potters were
killed on All Hallows Eve (Halloween) or the early hours of All
Hallows Day (All Saints' Day), but it seems clear that the attack
began around midnight on Halloween, the *eve* of All Hallows or All
Saints' Day. <snip>
===================

Jeremiah:

Exactly.


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