but what exactly are we celebrating and why is it a public holiday?

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This Friday 1^is November 2024 is All Saints' Day and it's a public holiday. A welcome rest that allows for a three-day weekend. But it is above all a Christian festival which allowed people to go to church.

Eleven public holidays in France

All Saints' Day, which is always celebrated on the 1st^is November, is one of the eleven public holidays provided for in the Labor Code. Here are the dates of public holidays in 2024:

The 1^is November, a date that comes from the Celtic calendar

“Originally, All Saints’ Day was the feast of all saintshence its name. But it was associated with death, because all the saints died,” explains Nadine Cretin, historian specializing in religious anthropology, contacted by actu.fr.

Rome celebrated its saints on May 13. Then, in the 9th century, the Pope decided to establish this holiday on November 1st.

A date that was not chosen at random. It comes to us from across the Channel and from the Celts.

According to Nadine Cretin, “ the English were already celebrating their death on this date. It was the celebration of Samhain which marked the beginning of a new year in the Celtic calendar.”

Unlike our current celebration, “it was above all a celebration of hope for the Celts which marked the end of the harvest and the beginning of a new year,” explains the historian. Once it became popular, it took a less joyful turn.

In Europe, the November climate corresponds well to this celebration for Nadine Cretin. “It’s a time with a lot of darkness, because the days are shorter. »

Halloween, celebrated the day before November 1, is also an ancient festival which dates back to the 12th century.^e century, according to the historian.

A holiday to go to church

But why is this day a holiday? “Very early on, All Saints’ Day was a holiday of obligation where Christians went to churchas with other religious festivals such as Pentecost,” explains the historian. This day is therefore a public holiday to allow believers to go and pray.

She iscelebrated throughout Europe. But also in Mexico where it is called Dia de Los Muertos (or Day of the Dead).

“There are parades on October 31 and November 1. We make fun of death by eating dishes shaped like skeletons or skulls,” the party specialist tells us.

In France, it is more of a celebration where we go to the cemetery to lay flowers and honor the dead.

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