Photo by Sam Yu Students at St. Thomas More Academy paraded as saints around their gym Friday morning as part of an All Saints' Day observance. Here, Austin Mogollon, 4, dressed as St. Augustine, prepares to greet his mother, Daina Thomas of Frederick, as he marches around the gym.

Pre-kindergarten student Arionne Robinson dressed in a long shawl and head scarf and looked every bit the part of St. Elizabeth of Hungary on Friday morning.

Ninety-five students -- the entire elementary school at St. Thomas More Academy in Buckeystown -- dressed in costume Friday morning, parading around the gym for teachers and parents in lots of robes, sandals, fisherman's nets, stuffed lambs, other animals -- and swords.

"Kids like St. Michael the Archangel and St. Francis," first-grade teacher Margie Harp said. "They like to carry the swords and animals."

The annual All Saints' Day costume parade at St. Thomas More serves as kind of an alternative-Halloween party, Harp said.

"The truth is, we're a Catholic school and we don't celebrate Halloween, but All Saints' Day gives us a holy reason to celebrate and recognize the lives of those who have passed -- not just the saints," Harp said. "So, in that way, it's not just about candy and munchies."

Holiday widely celebrated

All Saints' Day, Nov. 1, also known as All Hallows, is celebrated widely in the Christian world, from Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, to the Anglican Communion, Lutheran community and other Protestant denominations.

For example, at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Frederick , the Rev. Ron Reaves said the names of parishioners who have died since the previous All Saints' Day are read and recognized with the ringing of a chime and lighting of a candle at services. In the Lutheran Church, All Saints' Day is not only about recognizing the canonized Christian saints, but all those who live in the belief of God and according to their faith, Reaves said.

"We believe in remembering all those who follow the faith or died in the faith and can be called saints," he said.

Pastor Dave Albertson at Evangelical Lutheran in downtown Frederick said that church follows a similar tradition, collecting the names of family, friends and loved ones who have died since last All Saints' Day, reading and honoring the 20 or so parishioners who pass each year.

At St. Timothy's Catholic in Walkersville , the Rev. Andy Aaron said the church annually encourages kids -- and big kids -- to dress up as their favorite saint for their 11:30 a.m. Sunday Mass. Most stay afterward for a small celebration with food and games.

"It's fun," he said. "One year, we had triplets dress up as the Holy Trinity. Mostly it's the kids who dress up, but sometimes adults as well. One year, somone came as St. Francis of Assisi and brought a (stuffed) gorilla with him. I said, 'What's that?' He said, 'That's St. Francis' animal.'"

Aaron said that a traditional song, "The Litany of the Saints," is sung at Mass. He noted that for Catholics, praying to saints for guidance, intervention or aid for a loved one is common.

"We believe that praying to a saint, is like asking your mother or father to pray with you," he said. "They are like part of the family."

The Rev. Dick Murphy, pastor at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Frederick , said the Feast of All Saints "is an important day in our calendar."

He noted that Pope John Paul II canonized many new saints from different backgrounds and times in history, so that different cultures and diverse Catholics from all over the world would have their own recognizable saints to pray to.

Fifteen hundred years ago, and probably for centuries earlier, Nov. 1 represented the pagan Celts' New Year. This was the time of their final harvest and an occasion to celebrate the fruits of their labor and the Earth with great feasting.

The Celts believed that as October turns to November and the approaching winter skies and spirits darkened, the barriers between this world and the next became somewhat thinner, more negotiable. For the living, this meant it was easier to commune with their ancestors.

The Celtic people did not fear their dead and believed their ancestors' spirits could be felt by those left behind.

Some of this tradition is still carried in Halloween themes. And in Mexico, people joyfully celebrate Dia de Los Muertos -- the Day of the Dead -- from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2, for similar spiritual/ancestoral reasons.

The name Halloween itself is traced from Hallowe'en to "All Hallows" and "All Holies" and "All Saints." It's a contraction of All-Hallow-Even, as it is arrives before "All Hallows' Day," aka "All Saints' Day."

The modern celebration originated from Samhain, the pagan festival of the Celts of Ireland, Great Britain and northern Europe, according to University of Maryland assistant professor of anthropology William Stuart. Traditional activities included carving turnips and placing candles inside, trick-or-treating and telling stories, particularly about a guy named Jack of the Lantern.

"He was probably a pre-Christian troublemaker, a jokester, and he's prominent in many of the folklore stories," Stuart said. "When Jack died -- if he ever lived -- he wouldn't have been good enough to go to heaven. One story goes he tricked the devil up a tree and then placed a cross at the base so he couldn't get back down. Jack offended both Gods, he couldn't go to heaven or hell."

Halloween had been a day of religious festivities in northern European pagan traditions until Pope Gregory IV moved the Christian All Saints' Day, Stuart said, from the spring to Nov. 1, around the mid-ninth century.

The Rev. Anne Weatherholt, rector of St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Boonsboro, said that, like many Christians, she does, in fact, have a favorite saint -- Joan of Arc.

As a senior in high school, she played the French saint in a school play, "The Lark," written by George Bernard Shaw. Learning about the French martyr's mystical encounters, faith, courage and integrity proved a lasting inspiration.

"From that experience, came a sense of spiritual renewal," Weatherholt said. "It was during that transition, that magical period, when you are leaving the faith of your parents to go out in the world -- and it helped me to find a faith of my own.