All Souls Day

A cemetary, under fall trees, with glowing candles on top of headstones

All Souls Day (Nov. 2) is a Roman Catholic day of remembrance for friends and loved ones who have passed away. It developed alongside All Saints Day (or the Feast of All Saints), celebrated on Nov. 1st.

The traditions of the Feast of All Souls began independently of the Feast of All Saints. The Feast of All Souls owes its beginning to seventh century monks who decided to offer the mass on the day after Pentecost for their deceased community members. In the late tenth century, the Benedictine monastery in Cluny chose to move their mass for their dead to November 2, the day after the Feast of all Saints. This custom spread and in the thirteenth century, Rome put the feast on the calendar of the entire Church. The date remained November 2 so that all in the Communion of the Saints might be celebrated together.

In the Americas, particularly Mesoamerica, European colonization merged with pre-existing indigenous traditions to form a de los muertos.

Unitarian Universalist Perspectives

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Affirmation

  • A Stream of Living History (WorshipWeb)
    By Erika Hewitt
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Direct Experience, Generations, History, Humanism, Identity, Secular
  • They Are with Us Still (WorshipWeb)
    By Kathleen McTigue
    Tagged as: Generations, History, Justice, Leadership, Progress, Responsibility

Benediction

Blessing

  • Blessing for Life and the End of Life (WorshipWeb)
    By Natalie Maxwell Fenimore
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Acceptance, Caring, Change, Death, Direct Experience, Empathy, Grief, Journey, Judaism, Letting Go, Love, Secular, Transformation, Unitarian Universalism

Chalice Extinguishing

  • More Than One Life (WorshipWeb)
    By Lee Huebert
    Tagged as: Death, Letting Go, Mystery, Purpose, Unitarian Universalism, Wonder

Chalice Lighting

  • All Souls Chalice Lighting (WorshipWeb)
    By Florence Caplow
    Tagged as: Connections, Death, Generations, History, Humanism, Mystery
  • Chalice Lighting for a Memorial Service (WorshipWeb)
    By S. William Feiss
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Death, Forgiveness, Healing, Love, Meaning, Purpose, Sacred, Sorrow, Strength, Truth

Invocation

  • Remembrance Invocation (WorshipWeb)
    By Lyn Cox
    Tagged as: Generations, History, Paganism, Prophetic Words & Deeds
  • United by Story and Bound by Love (WorshipWeb)
    By Andrea Hawkins-Kamper
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Community, Connections, Earth-Centered, Generations, Interdependence, Paganism, Reverence, Sacred, Spirituality, Tradition, Unitarian Universalism

Litany

  • Litany for Those Lost to Climate Change (WorshipWeb)
    By Erica Baron
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Anti-Oppression, Brokenness, Climate Justice, Despair, Earth, Earth-Centered, Humanism, Nature, Pain, Responsibility, Trauma