[28] During the 5th century, St. Maximus of Turin preached annually on the Sunday after Pentecost in honor of all martyrs in what is today northern Italy.

It is suggested 13 May was chosen by the Pope and earlier by Christians in Edessa because it was the date of the Roman pagan festival of Lemuria, in which malevolent and restless spirits of the dead were propitiated.

Some liturgiologists suggest that Lemuria was the origin of All Saints, based on their identical dates and their similar theme of "all the dead".

[a] Pope Gregory III (731–741) dedicated an oratory in Old St. Peter's Basilica to the relics "of the holy apostles and of all saints, martyrs and confessors, of all the just made perfect who are at rest throughout the world".

[31] Other sources say Gregory III held a synod to condemn iconoclasm on 1 November 731, but he dedicated the All Saints oratory on Palm Sunday, 12 April 732.

[32][33][34][35] By 800, there is evidence that churches in Gaelic Ireland[36] and Anglo-Saxon Northumbria were holding a feast commemorating all saints on 1 November.

[40] Some scholars propose that churches in the British Isles began celebrating All Saints on 1 November in the 8th century to coincide with or replace the Gaelic Celtic festival known in Ireland and Scotland as Samhain.

James Frazer represents this school of thought by arguing that 1 November was chosen because Samhain was the date of the Celtic festival of the dead.

[43][31][44] Ronald Hutton argues instead that the earliest documentary sources indicate Samhain was a harvest festival with no particular ritual connections to the dead.

Sicard of Cremona, a scholar who lived in the 12th and 13th centuries, proposed that Pope Gregory VII (1073–85) suppressed the 13 May date in favour of 1 November.

[45][18] In 1955, the All Saints vigil and the octave were suppressed by the Liturgical reforms of Pope Pius XII, though Traditional Catholic communities, such as the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen, continue to observe it.

While the dead are solemnly remembered during worship on All Saints' Sunday, the festival is, ultimately, a celebration of Christ's victory over death.

[11] The 74th homily of St. John Chrysostom from the late 4th or early 5th century marks the observance of a feast of all the martyrs on the first Sunday after Pentecost.

[59] The Feast of All Saints achieved greater prominence in the 9th century, in the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Leo VI "the Wise" (866–911).

[citation needed] In East Syriac tradition the All Saints Day celebration falls on the first Friday after resurrection Sunday.

[61] In Austria and Bavaria, it is customary on All Saints' Day for godfathers to give their godchildren Allerheiligenstriezel, a braided yeast pastry.

[20] All Saints' Day (Croatian: Svi sveti) is observed in Croatia by placing candles and flowers on the graves of the deceased.

Liturgies are also conducted by priests around a central location in some cemeteries; the one held in Mirogoj, Zagreb is broadcast every year on national television.

In Germany, Allerheiligen is a public holiday in five federal states, namely Baden-Württemberg, Bayern, Rheinland-Pfalz, Nordrhein-Westfalen and Saarland.

The Zaduszki custom of honouring the dead thus corresponds with All Souls' Day celebrations and is much more observed in Poland than in most other places in the West.

Portuguese children celebrate the Pão-por-Deus tradition (also called santorinho, bolinho or fiéis de Deus) going door-to-door, where they receive cakes, nuts, pomegranates, sweets and candies.

[68] Allhallowtide in the Philippines is variously called Undás (from the Spanish Honras, meaning 'honours', as in "with honours"), Todos los Santos (Spanish, 'All Saints'), and sometimes Araw ng mga Patay / Yumao (Tagalog, 'Day of the Dead, passed away'), which incorporates All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day.

[69] Prayers for the dead are recited, while offerings are made, the most common being flowers, candles, food,[70] and for Chinese Filipinos, incense and kim.

Prior to the use of coffins, pre-colonial Filipinos were already visiting burial caves throughout the archipelago as confirmed by research conducted by the University of the Philippines.

[citation needed] The present date of Undas, 1 November, is not a pre-colonial observance but an import from Mexico, where it is known as the Day of the Dead.

Pre-colonial Filipinos preferred going to the burial caves of the departed occasionally as they believed that aswáng (monster, half-vampire, half-werewolf beings) would take the corpse of the dead if it was not properly guarded.

[citation needed] Undas is also seen as a family holiday, where members living elsewhere return to their hometowns to visit ancestral graves.

[citation needed] Children are allowed to play with melted candles left at tombs, which they form into wax balls.

[72][73][74] 1 November is a fixed date public holiday in Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, Colombia, Congo, Croatia, East Timor, France, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Gabon, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Hungary, Italy, Ivory Coast, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Martinique, Mauritius, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, San Marino, Senegal, Seychelles, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Togo, the Vatican and Venezuela.

In Germany All Saints' is a designated quiet day in states of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland.