Sunday, November 2, 2014

All Souls' Day

ALL SOULS' DAY (Nov. 2) is a day of prayer for the dead, particularly but not exclusively one's relatives.  This annual celebration is held on November 2 and is associated with ALL SAINTS' DAY (November 1) and its vigil, HALLOWEEN (October 31).
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 Halloween - "hallow" means holy
"een" means evening
HALLOWEEN (Oct. 31) is the eve of All Hallows, the night before the Christian holy day that honors saintly people of the past.  A common custom of Christians was to come together on the eve of the feast of All Hallows Day to ask for God's blessing and protection from evil in the world.  Often, they would dress in costumes of saints or evil spirits and act out the battle between good and evil around bonfires.  This is the source of the modern observance of Halloween.
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ALL SAINTS' DAY (Nov. 1) is a call to live as saints, to remind us how we are supposed to live.  All Saints' Day originates from early Christian celebrations of martyrs.  It is a celebration of the communion of saints, those people we believe are in Heaven, through good works and God's grace.
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Dia de los Muertos or "day of the dead",  keeps alive some of the tradition of honoring souls of the dead.

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