All Soul's Day is widely known as Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed and the Day of the Dead.
It's celebrated every year on November 2 by the Roman Catholics and other Christian denominations as a day of prayer and remembrance for the souls who have died. Like All Saints¡¯ Day, it is often associated with the D¨ªa De Los Muertos (translated as the Day of the Dead) in Latin America.
It is a Christian tradition, the day was made famous by French monks who decided on a particular day to remember the dead in 998 AD. It started locally and then spread throughout the Catholic church in the next century.
The day plays a significant role as it is associated with the notion of purgatory. Bells are tolled to comfort those being cleansed and candles are lit to help the soul languish in the darkness.?
In many countries, cakes are distributed among children. Singing and prayer meets are also organized.
On Souls day, the catholic church teaches about the purification of the souls in the purgatory, which can be assisted by the actions of the faithful on the earth. Its teaching is majorly based on the practice of prayer for the dead, which has been mentioned as far as back as 2 Maccabees 12.42-46.?
Requiem masses are done at the church along with music composed specially for All souls' day. On this day, people visit the graves of the dear ones whom they have lost and decorate them with beautiful garlands, flowers and light candles.??
Soul cakes are distributed among children who are coming for prayers for the dead to enhance the culture of ¡®going souling¡¯.??
¡°Life itself is but the shadow of death, and souls departed but the shadows of the living.¡± - Thomas Browne??
¡°When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life in a manner so that when you die the world cries and you rejoice.¡± ¨C Native American Proverb
¡°He who has gone, so we but cherish his memory, abides with us, more potent, nay, more present than the living man.¡± ¨C Antoine de Saint-Exup¨¦ry.
¡°No one is actually dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away.¡± - Terry Pratchett??