Peek behind the veil during three days of the living dead.

There is another triduum besides the official Triduum of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Vigil of Easter. This one is populist, and it begins with Halloween, the last day of October, continues with All Saints' Day, the first day of November, and concludes with All Souls' Day, November 2. These days extol the dead, the sainted dead, and our concern for and relationship with the dead.

Halloween comes from two words, hallow, another word for saint, coupled with a derivation of eve. The popular Halloween activities of kids trick-or-treating or bobbing for apples don't much echo this eve's original saintly intention. Nor do destructive fires set on Devil's Night, the eve of Halloween, have any odor of sanctity about them.

Halloween here in the United States has little . connection to its religious roots. One person I know characterizes Halloween's transition from sacred feast to secular fess: "Originally, people dressed like saints and gave food to the poor. Today, people dress like demons and take food for themselves."

All Saints' Day, originally known as Hallowmas, has its origins in the many and varied local church remembrances of their dead. As these local churches began to give way to a more centralized church, a single springtime date was established for the celebration of All Saints. It wasn't until the year 844 that Gregory IV determined this feast should be celebrated on November 1. The Byzantine rite, however, still celebrates All Saints on the first Sunday after Pentecost.

If Halloween and All Saints' Day have had unusual traditions, All Souls' Day runs amok. Before the demise of purgatory, All Souls' Day in 20th-century, pre-Vatican II U.S. Catholicism focused on praying for the release of the dead from purgatory. "Poor souls," they were affectionately termed. The priest clad in black vestments offered not one, not two, but three Masses. It was a long, somber rite. That custom, begun in the 15th century by Spanish Dominicans, was extended to the universal church by Pope Benedict XIV in 1748. Many faithful dutifully sat through the trio of Masses hoping to spring their deceased relatives and friends out of purgatory into the Beatific Vision.

In other countries, All Souls' Day is a celebration. During the "Day of the Dead," as it is known in Latin America, people decorate graves, have picnics in cemeteries, and eat candy in the shape of skulls and bones (see Practicing Catholic). Sounds like a lot more fun than sitting through three Latin Masses in a row.

More intriguing than the diversity of the ever-evolving customs of these three days is the power this populist triduum has to focus, to inspire, to intrigue people of many faiths and nonfaiths. These three days lift that thin veil separating the living and the dead. Don't forget to look this year when the veil is lifted.

Peter Gilmour ([e-mail]) teaches at the Institute of Pastoral Studies of Loyola University Chicago.