Many practising Christians look somewhat askance at the annual high-jinks on Hallowe'en, with its queasy mixture of Gothic shock imagery and grasping, intrusive commercial opportunism. What link is there originally between this 'festival' and Christian belief, practices or traditional observation?
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'Hallowe'en' is a simple linguistic corruption of 'Hello': a reminder to greet one's neighbours as the autumn evenings draw in
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Hallowe'en derives from the 'halo' (an emblematic ring of light around the head of saints, and similar, in traditional depictions such as classic oil paintings and stained-glass windows), because this date is the evening before ~ or 'Eve of' ~ All Saints' Day
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The Saints themselves are 'hallowed' (i.e. blessed and/or made special), and this is the night before the day when we celebrate them collectively
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The origin is a deliberate mispronunciation of 'hell', where un-saintly people need reminding that they may be bound to go forever after their death unless they mend their ways with the turn of the new month (November)
Q.2.
Though widely available commercially for weeks at a time, beforehand and afterwards, the Hot Cross Bun is originally and traditionally associated with which day in the Christian calendar?
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Ash Wednesday
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Maundy Thursday
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Good Friday
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Easter Day
Q.3.
Which of the following is NOT broadly true as to the origins and practices of Ash Wednesday?
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In Biblical times, one way of publicly proclaiming one's sorrow and repentance was to go around wearing sackcloth (which was coarser and more irritating against the skin than the better fabrics available in those days) and also daubed with ashes (themselves visibly dirty, emblematic of the effective end of anything's existence or working life; and also painful when rubbing against the skin). This symbolism has been carried forward into the beginning of the Christian penitential season of the 40 days of Lent
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Many Christians attend church on this day to focus themselves on Christ's period of suffering and deprivation, and to begin their own chosen devotions. They may go up to the altar rail (as though for communion, but sooner in the service) to be marked with a cross on their foreheads ~ an echo of baptism ~ but using a paste made with ash, which will remain visible at least until they wash
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The ashen paste used in this 'imposition' is traditionally made using leftover palm fronds from the previous year's Palm Sunday. This embodies a sense of carrying-over from one year's observances to the next
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Ash Wednesday usually falls during February or so (depending on the date of Easter, which is itself a rather complicated 'movable feast'); strict Christians deny themselves the creature-comforts of a home fire from then through until Easter, regardless of the weather. Ash Wednesday therefore marks a symbolic moment in the year: the last time they will sweep up a hearth. The time they would have spent doing this is then given over to prayer and Bible study
Q.4.
Along with all that shopping, one of the preparatory markers for Christmas, for many people, comes mid-afternoon on Christmas Eve when the BBC transmits 'the carol service' live on the radio, as it has done since 1928 ... from where?
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Westminster Abbey
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King's College, Cambridge
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Canterbury Cathedral
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Magdalen College, Oxford
Q.5.
Which 20th-century British poet wrote a perceptive and much-loved Christmas poem in that passingly refers to ' ... tissued fripperies, The sweet and silly Christmas things, Bath-salts and inexpensive scent And hideous ties, so kindly meant ...' ?
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Sir John Betjeman
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Philip Larkin
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John Masefield
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Pam Ayres
Q.6.
The (as often played traditionally, or by default) was written by Mendelssohn as part of his incidental music for a production of which Shakespeare play?
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Macbeth
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Hamlet
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A Midsummer Night's Dream
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Troilus and Cressida
Q.7.
Which is traditionally the most popular day in the Christian year for such services as Confirmation and Ordination?
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Easter Sunday
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Christmas
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Whitsun / Pentecost
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All Saints'
Q.8.
Those churches that use them, will only put out their bright red altar frontals on certain special occasions within the cycle of the Liturgical Year, as detailed below. One of the Answers contains a false entry: which one?
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Palm Sunday and Good Friday (the red representing Jesus' blood to be shed during the events of the original Holy Week)
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Pentecost and Confirmation services (representing the flames of the Spirit descending on God's chosen)
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Feast Days of saints, martyrs and apostles (who, literally or figuratively, 'gave their blood for their faith')
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Trinity Sunday (a 'red-letter day' in the Church's calendar)
Q.9.
The seemingly age-old custom of having a decorated evergreen tree indoors at Christmas, in fact dates back to ...
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The Middle Ages
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Pagan / pre-Christian Ancient Britain
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... when Prince Albert brought the tradition over from Germany
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... just after the Restoration of the Monarchy
Q.10.
A simnel cake, topped with 11 or 12 small globes of marzipan, is traditionally eaten to mark which Christian festival?
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Easter
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Mothering (or 'Refreshment') Sunday, in mid-Lent
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Whitsun / Pentecost
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Harvest
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