Thursday 1 November 2018 is All Saints Day, which is the 8th public holiday in the Luxembourgish annual calendar. What exactly is the significance behind All Saints Day though?

A common misconception is that All Saints Day is the Day of the Dead and celebrates the dead. This is not exactly true and the confusion likely arises as a result of the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead, which takes place around the same time and is increasingly starting to appear in popular culture.

All Saints Day is a Christian celebration of all saints. The day after All Saints Day is All Souls Day, which is when people commemorate the dead and visit their graves to put flowers on them and reflect on their deceased loved ones.

All Saints Day goes back to the second century and the tradition of Catholics to honour the anniversaries of martyrs. Protestants do not acknowledge the saints of the Catholic Church and consequently do not celebrate All Saints Day.

Pope Boniface IV declared the day a celebration of saints and martyrs as he consecrated the Pantheon of Rome to the Blessed Virgin and other martys, but not on 1 November. This occurred on 13 May 610, interestingly enough.

A century later, Pope Gregory III changed the date of the celebration to 1 November, although the reason for this is disputed. Some suggest the pope did this to coincide with the Celtic festival of the dead, Samhain, whilst others attribute the decision to a Germanic idea.

Whatever the reason, since then 1 November has been a public holiday in many European countries with a Catholic tradition.