Allhallowtide is the portal between autumn and winter—it offers us a potent time to honor ancestors, spirits, and the unseen. It is a sacred celebration, a time of reverence—not just of the dead, but of how death creates life. Subverting patriarchal and religious reinterpretations, let’s unearth how these days carry timeless threads of feminine wisdom, ritual, and reverence. This is an invitation to reclaim traditions that connect us to ancestral roots and celebrate life and death as parts of a sacred whole.
What Is Allhallowtide?
Over three sacred days, Allhallowtide includes
- All Hallows’ Eve or Halloween on October 31
- All Saints’ Day on November 1
- All Souls’ Day on November 2
The word comprises “hallows,” meaning holy or sacred, and “tide,” meaning time or season. Allhallowtide is a triddum, a Latin word that means “three days” and describes three days of prayer or observance.
The Origins of Allhallowtide and Its Pagan Roots
Pre-Christian Celebrations: The Festival of Samhain
Before it became a set of “holy days” within Christianity, Allhallowtide had deep roots in pagan traditions, especially in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced “sow-en”).
Celebrated on October 31, Samhain marks a liminal time when the veil between worlds grows thin. Or, our openness and capacity for receiving and communing is greater because, as Perdita Finn suggests, the veil is always thin.
This thinning allows spirits to cross easily between realms, creating a time when people honored their ancestors, sought guidance, and recognized the cyclical nature of life and death. At Samhain, people lit fires and left offerings for the departed, believing that benevolent and mischievous spirits wandered the earth (or settled and unsettled ancestors). Samhain is a sacred season dedicated to celebrating ancestors and nature’s cycles.
Religious Reinterpretations: Appropriating the Pagan Spirit
As Christianity spread through Europe, the Church absorbed, adapted, and appropriated these pagan practices to fit its doctrine. All Hallows’ Eve became Halloween, and November 1 was marked as All Saints’ Day (a “Holy Day of Obligation”), followed by All Souls’ Day on November 2.
The Church now turned these days into days to honor saints and pray for souls in purgatory rather than commune with ancestors—instilling fear of punishment into what was previously celebratory.
During this shift, the role of women as priestesses, herbalists, and spiritual guides began to erode. Women who held influence within spiritual, medicinal, and healing practices were often either minimized or branded as “witches” and “heretics,” redirecting the feminine power once respected in pre-Christian communities toward fear and condemnation. Pagan practices were recast as heathen, subversive acts in need of “saving” by the Church. This oppression and appropriation continue today.
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This statement in The Season of the Dead: The Origins and Practice of Allhallowtide from The Catholic World Report, published in 2018, is shocking (but also not shocking):
“[The American experience of Halloween is] a product of the 20th century media-saturated consumer-oriented appropriation of Catholic feasts for mass consumption, which strips things of their true meaning… Halloween is a Christian holiday. Some Celtic neo-pagans and fundamentalist Christians claim the Church simply took over the date for a pagan festival of the dead and all its trappings. False.”
Repeat: The Church Oppressed and Appropriated Samhain
For the record, Samhain is widely documented as a pre-Christian, pagan festival, particularly within Celtic traditions. Evidence comes from historical records, archaeological findings, and writings from early Christian scholars.
1. Ancient Celtic Calendar
Samhain is one of the four major Celtic seasonal festivals—along with Imbolc, Beltane, and Lughnasadh. These festivals were deeply rooted in agricultural cycles and marked transitions in the natural year. Samhain, typically celebrated around October 31 to November 1, marked the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter, symbolizing a time when the boundary between the living and the spirit world was believed to be especially thin.
2. Pre-Christian Practices
Archaeological finds in Ireland, Scotland, and other Celtic regions reveal remnants of bonfires and ritual gatherings associated with Samhain. Bonfires were central to Samhain rites, symbolizing purification and protection for the coming darker months. Cattle, often slaughtered for winter storage, were part of the ritual context, linking Samhain to both survival and symbolic death.
3. Medieval Christian Texts
Like those written by chroniclers and missionaries, early Christian sources record their efforts to replace Samhain with All Saints’ and All Souls’ observances. The 8th-century Pope Gregory III intentionally established All Saints’ Day on November 1 to align with Samhain to Christianize the festival. These sources depict Samhain as a longstanding, non-Christian festival that the Church sought to reframe rather than abolish entirely.
4. Folk Traditions
Samhain customs, like wearing costumes to ward off spirits and leaving offerings for deceased loved ones, have persisted in folk traditions across the Celtic regions. These practices, rooted in pagan beliefs about the spirit world, evolved over centuries, influencing Halloween traditions. Folklorists in the 19th and 20th centuries documented the connection between Samhain and modern Halloween, linking historical pagan customs to contemporary practices.
Learn more in The Ancient Celts by Barry Cunliffe and Stations of the Sun by Ronald Hutton, a well-known scholar of British paganism.
Patriarchal Narratives in the “Holy Days”
The Role of Women in Early Spiritual Practices
Before religious takeovers, women held central roles in spiritual communities. They were healers, priestesses, witches, and wise women who bridged the gap between the living and the spirit realms. This knowledge wasn’t merely practical—it was profoundly sacred. For pagan societies, these women were keepers of earth’s mysteries, acting as midwives to life and death and facilitating rites of passage for both.
As Christianity gained dominance, however, these roles became a direct threat to patriarchal authority. Women’s influence over spiritual practices conflicted with the Church’s teachings, and their roles as healers and ritual leaders were systematically undermined. In this process, the Church reframed female spiritual authority as a dangerous, heretical force.
Suppression and Demonization
The Church’s disapproval didn’t stop at redefining these roles; it extended into aggressive suppression. The witch hunts, which peaked during the 15th to 18th centuries, targeted women who continued to practice traditional rites or herbal medicine. Accusations of witchcraft often fell upon those who resisted forced conversions or who maintained pagan practices. This association of women’s spiritual authority with demonic forces was a calculated move to ensure the Church’s control. The message was clear: the once-honored feminine wisdom was now a threat, punishable by death or forced assimilation.
These narratives and their resulting oppression continue today, as evident in The Catholic World Report article above and in the experiences of so many women, particularly those who practice in liminal spaces. In another slightly more historical but still reference-free article from a ministry website, the author incorrectly states, “We know surprisingly little about how Samhain was celebrated.”
And then this part in particular made me cringe:
“Reinterpreting the practices and symbols of pre-Christian cultures is not necessarily a bad thing. While it could lead to syncretism or a paganization of Christianity, historically it has generally led to a Christianization of paganism. It is no different in principle from the approach taken by modern missionaries who look for ways to contextualize the Gospel, that is, to identify those elements in the culture that God has providentially left as His witnesses and using those as an entry point for the Gospel.”
Subverting Oppression: Reclaiming Allhallowtide as Sacred Feminist Ritual
Restoring Sacred Narratives
Today, we can reclaim Allhallowtide from its patriarchal reinterpretations and re-infuse it with a feminine power that honors life’s cycles. To reconnect with Allhallowtide’s roots, we might create rituals that acknowledge and revere the role of women, ancestors, and earth-based wisdom. For example, one could create an ancestor altar at home adorned with photos, heirlooms, or symbolic objects tied to the feminine power of one’s lineage.
These simple acts of remembrance call forth a power that resists and reclaims—drawing on the sacred wisdom our foremothers held before patriarchy cast them into shadows.
Rebellion Through Reverence
For those seeking to bestow more reverence upon Allhallowtide, consider rituals that uplift marginalized spiritual practices and honor the wisdom of women healers and guides. A modern Allhallowtide can include gatherings where friends or family share stories of female ancestors, celebrate the lives of influential women, or simply set aside time to commune with nature. These practices allow us to honor the sanctity of life’s cycles and, in doing so, to rebel against systems that have long suppressed this wisdom.
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Explore Your Spiritual Lineage
Allhallowtide is a time for remembrance and a reclaiming of your spiritual autonomy. This sacred season invites us to honor the ancestors who walked before us, revisit the spiritual practices once suppressed, and celebrate the feminine wisdom that patriarchy sought to erase. We bring the past forward through ritual, reflection, and remembrance, empowering ourselves and our communities.
Ritual can be an act of quiet reverence—and profound rebellion.
Allhallowtide Self-Reflection
If you’d like to substitute “Halloween” for “Allhallowtide” below, that works, too.
- Are you familiar with Allhallowtide or just Halloween?
- What do you feel in your body when you think about this time of year?
- How did your family of origin celebrate Allhallowtide?
- Describe what you sense during the season of Allhallowtide
- How do you celebrate this transitional time now?
- What are your beliefs today around Halloween and Allhallowtide?
- What rituals and experiences do you want to celebrate on Allhallowtide?
- Do you have any past life memories of Allhallowtide—what it meant, how you celebrated, and whether you were punished or harmed for your practices?
- Write down a list of all the things you like about this time of year.
Spellcast: Make Marigold Oil for Allhallowtide
I remember sitting in my backyard, among the marigolds blooming in fall, with my dear friend Raven Rose, an herbalist, healer, and mystic. I was deadheading the marigolds, breaking them open, and storing the seeds for next year. The smell of marigolds was intoxicating. I said, “I just love the smell of marigolds.”
Raven said, “You know, marigolds are the most inviting flower to the dead,” which she’d learned from Doña Maria Galindo Ruiz.
The ancient practice of creating sacred oils is one way to honor Allhallowtide. I make marigold oil to anoint candles, altars, and thresholds like doorways throughout the winter—especially when I want to:
- Remember, revere, or connect with my well ancestors
- Honor the thresholds and cycles of life and death
I work with marigolds, or Tagetes erecta L. specifically. It is commonly mistaken for calendula, but they are different plants with unique scientific names, properties, and medicinal uses. I am not a trained herbalist, but I have a little bit of a green thumb. I love making potions and connecting with plant guides (since I was a little girl).
*If marigold oil does not resonate with you, adapt this ritual with another plant. You can work with calendula, rosemary, or yarrow. Or, create an earth-based ritual of your own.
Marigolds Are Significant In Día de los Muertos Celebrations
I have always been attracted to marigolds for their scent and bright colors. However, I want to acknowledge that 1) I am not Mexican or Latin American, and 2) marigolds hold significance in Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebrations in Mexico and other parts of Latin America.
Known as cempasúchil in Spanish, marigolds are believed to guide the souls of the deceased back to the land of the living. Their vibrant orange and yellow colors symbolize the warmth of the sun and the light needed to illuminate the spirits’ path from the afterlife, honoring the cyclical journey of life and death. Practitioners use their petals to create a pathway leading to altars or ofrendas to guide souls.
Ingredients
- Marigold flowers
- Carrier oil, like olive or almond oil
- Jar
- Cheesecloth
How To Make Marigold Oil
1. Connect With Your Plant Guide
I am working with marigold, but you’re welcome to tune in and find the plant guide that wishes to collaborate—consider rosemary and yarrow. Ask your plant guide permission before harvesting and express gratitude.
2. Gather and Prepare Materials
You’ll need dried marigold flowers, carrier oil, and a glass jar. If you picked fresh marigolds, open them, remove and keep the seeds, and dry them over several days. You may also buy dried marigold flowers.
3. Create with Intention
Begin by holding the marigold flowers in your hands and setting intentions for your ritual. Visualize these intentions infusing the flowers as you add them to the jar. Consider singing or saying an incantation while you create your oil.
4. Infuse the Oil with Your Intention
Pour the oil over the flowers. Submerge them fully. Keep singing or saying your intention. Seal the jar and place it in a sunny spot for 4-6 weeks, shaking it gently each day. Some practitioners put the jar in a dark spot or pantry, but I prefer a sunny windowsill.
5. Blessing and Using the Oil
When ready, strain the oil with a fine sieve or cheesecloth and store it. Use it for anointing—on yourself, doorways, candles, thresholds, and altars. Let this oil remind you of your connection to what is beyond the veil, a symbol of your spiritual autonomy and feminine earth-based wisdom.
