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 Dí a de los muertos.
Unitarian Universalist Perspectives
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As we begin to settle to a deeper more inward place; to be fully present right now in this place made for head and heart together; we might begin to feel how our own bodies are not only flesh and blood — but skeleton bones as well. No matter how old we are, no matter how we move from place to...Meditation | By Katie Kandarian-Morris | October 26, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: All Souls Day, Awe, Body, Día de los Muertos, Direct Experience, Nature, Playfulness -
In the struggles we choose for ourselves, in the ways we move forward in our lives and bring our world forward with us, It is right to remember the names of those who gave us strength in this choice of living. It is right to name the power of hard lives well-lived. We share a history with those...Affirmation | By Kathleen McTigue | April 26, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: All Saints Day, All Souls Day, Día de los Muertos, Generations, History, Justice, Leadership, Memorial Services, Ordinations, Progress, Responsibility -
Lighting a candle is somewhat like the beginning of life. If that is true, then perhaps extinguishing a candle is like the ending of life. But death may not be the end of us. We live on in the memories of friends and loved ones....Chalice Extinguishing | By Lee Huebert | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: All Souls Day, Death, Día de los Muertos, Letting Go, Memorial Services, Mystery, Purpose, Remembrance Day, Unitarian Universalism, Wonder -
(Tea lights are set up in groups of 50 on either side of the chancel in this ritual borrowed from Soulful Sundown.) The long Summer has faded, now, and these first days of November mark the beginning of the coming of Winter....Reading | By Christine Robinson | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: All Souls Day, Community, Connections, Día de los Muertos, Family, Grief, Halloween, Letting Go, Relationships, Samhain