All Souls Day Celebrations

I was so absorbed in the beauty of Dia de los Muertos, that I almost forgot about the All Souls Day Celebrations in other cultures. The image above is from Wikipedia, and shows a Polish cemetery during Zaduszki or All Souls Day. This day, November 2, is reserved for remembering loved ones who have died but are in purgatory, waiting to go to heaven. On November 2, they are thought to come back to Earth. Poles give their priests notes with names of their deceased loved ones. The priests read the names on All Souls Day. People place candles on the graves in the evening and use the day to honor their ancestors.


Bread is often placed on the graves in Poland and the recipes are remarkably similar to those for Pan de los Muertos. Germans, Belgians, French, Austrians, Spaniards, Italians, Hungarians, and Slavs are among the people who enjoy this tradition. All of them use an egg-rich bread that has some sweetness and citrus flavors. 


In some parts of central Europe boys receive an All Souls Day cake shaped in the form of a hare, and girls recieve one in the shape of a hen. All Souls Day cakes or bread are made of braided strands of sweet dough and are called Heiligenstriezel in German, Strucel Swiateczne in Polish, and Mindszenti Kalácska in Hungarian. In Italy, Ossi di Morto, Bones of the Dead, are cookies that are prepared on All Souls Day.


There are many other special traditions on All Souls Day. 

• Some Western Europeans prepare an All Souls Day meal of cooked beans or peas or lentils, called "soul food," which they afterward serve to the poor together with meat and other dishes. 

• In Poland, farmers hold a solemn meal on the evening of All Souls'' Day, with empty seats and plates ready for the "souls" of departed relatives.  

• In the Alpine provinces of Austria poor children go from house to house, recite a prayer or singing a hymn for the holy souls, and receive small loaves of the "soul bread" in reward.  

• In parts of Spain people eat a special pastry called "Bones of the Holy" (Huesos de Santo). In Catalonia All Souls'' pastry is called Panellets (little breads).

• Hungarians call the "Day of the Dead" Halottak Napja and invite orphan children into the family for All Souls Days, and serve the children generous meals and give them new clothes and toys. Also, Hungarians care for graves that do not have living relatives to care for them.

• In Brittany, farmers kneel bareheaded in fervent prayer by graves of their departed relatives on Jour des morts (Day of the Dead). Then they sprinkle the grave with holy water, and finally, before leaving, pour milk over the grave as nourishment "for the holy souls." In every house a generous portion of the dinner is served before an empty seat and afterward given to the hungry.

• In Poland, to welcome the souls of the departed, the people leave doors and windows open on All Souls Day.

• In rural Austria, the souls are said to wander through the forests on All Souls Day, and the children are told to pray aloud so the souls will be comforted.