Even after the demise of the pagan Celtic culture, Samhain remained a popular holiday, and in early Ireland, it was the most important of the four great festivals. There is a common theory that floats about that the institution of Halloween by the Catholic Church was intentionally begun as an answer to the reluctance of the people to give up pagan revelries or the remembrance of the dead.
The truth is actually much less clear cut. The various churches in the first centuries instituted celebrations of their saints and martyrs, which varied according to location, but were celebrated mostly in the spring. By the year 800, German and English churches were commemorating the saints on the first of November, and by 835, most of the rest had followed suit at the urging of Pope Gregory IV. Before this time, however, the Celtic observance was held in the springtime, near the Easter feast.
Also, although there was a definite connection with death and passages, there isn't a lot of evidence that Samhain was held to honor the dead. Most such claims come much too late to be of any use, and the idea is never mentioned in the surviving mythological tales. It is a fair assumption, however, that in this traditional time of tribal gathering, some commemoration would have been made on behalf of the ancestors. It is known that it was sometimes customary to light torches at the entrances of the ancient tombs, to make clearer the passage from the Otherworld.
From the earliest days of the Church, it was customary to observe a day in memorial to the saints; later, this expanded to include all of the dead. The saints of the church were celebrated on November 1 with a solemn mass and singing.
As it was already customary to honor one's ancestors during the Samhain period, it was only natural that the Church's own observances followed suit. It became customary to visit cemeteries on this day, to sweep and clean the graves, and echoing the older custom, lights were lit outside of homes and in cemeteries. Water and other provisions would be left out, and the doors left unlocked. The ancient tombs were not neglected, either; the old custom of walking in deasil procession three times about the ancient monuments carried well into medieval times.
The November celebrations were eventually worn away as the popularity of the All Saints festival increased. Within a few hundred years, the commemoration of the dead also moved from an earlier date to coincide with the November observation, so that eventually, the two would be held back to back. In any case, the Christian observations were quite unlike their pagan predecessor, and by the medieval period, the feasts became solemn reminders of mortality and the grisly fates awaiting the sinner.
In medieval times, as during other feast days, it became customary to spend Samhain night going door to door collecting food and other offerings for the poor, often in exchange for prayers said for the homeowner.
However, the Samhain ritual often involved a costumed masquerade, some say in imitation of the fairy procession. If a homeowner gave generously to these masked visitors, the visitors would make a solemn procession around the kitchen fire — a tradition that clearly echoes the ancient Samhain rituals. Were the hosts less than generous, they would be cursed in a similar manner.
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