What we call “Halloween” is quickly followed by the religious feasts of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day on November 1st and 2nd, respectively. All Saints’ Day, also known as All Hallows’ Day, Hallowmas, or Feast of All Saints, is a Christian day that commemorates the church’s saints. It is a holy day of obligation, meaning a day on which Catholics are required to attend mass and treat as a holy day, refraining from work.
All Souls’ Day follows on November 2nd, which honors the dead. While Roman Catholic doctrine specifies All Souls’ Day as a day to remember the baptized believed to be in purgatory, it is largely a day of prayer and remembrance for those we’ve lost. It’s a day to pray for your dead, schedule a requiem mass in their honor, and visit and decorate the graves of those you’ve lost.
“But winter is a time when death comes closest: when the cold feels as though it might yet snatch us away, despite our modern comforts. We still perceive the presence of those we’ve lost in the silence of those long evenings, and in the depths of darkness that they bring. This is the season of ghosts. Their pale forms are invisible in bright sunlight. Winter makes them clear again.”
-Katherine May
Attached here is a manual to help you participate in these days of remembrance, but it’s also a guide to turn to throughout the year, helping you incorporate old-world prayer and spiritual practices into your modern life.
Thanks for being here with me,
Dolores