All Souls Day All Souls Day is when the Church commemorates and prays for the souls in Purgatory, who are undergoing purification before entering heaven. All Souls Day is November 2nd, the day after All Saints Day. Introduction All Souls Day follows All Saints Day, and commemorates the faithful departed, i.e. those who die in Gods grace and friendship. Catholics believe that not everyone who dies in Gods grace is immediately ready for the ‘Beatific’ vision, i.e. the direct experience of God and His perfect nature in heaven, so they must be purified of lesser faults, and the temporal effects of sin. The Catholic Church calls this purification purgatory. The Catholic teaching on Purgatory essentially requires belief in two realities: (1). that there will be a purification of believers prior to entering heaven and (2). that the prayers and masses of the faithful in some way benefit those in the state of purification. As to the duration, place, and exact nature of this purification, the Church has no official dogma, although Saint Augustine and others used fire as a way to explain the nature of the purification. History Christians have been praying for their departed brothers and sisters since the earliest days of Christianity. Praying for the dead is actually borrowed from Judaism (as indicated in 2 Maccabees 12:41-42). Christians believed that prayers could somehow have a positive effect on the souls of departed believers. Closely connected to the ancient practice of praying for the dead is the belief in an explicit state called purgatory. All Souls Day became a universal festival largely on account of the influence of ‘Odilo of Cluny’ in AD 998, when he commanded its annual celebration in the Benedictine houses of his congregation. This soon spread to the Carthusian congregations as well. The day was celebrated on various days, including October 15th in 12th century Milan. Today all Western Catholics celebrate All Souls Day on November 2, as do many Anglicans, Lutherans, and other Christians. Customs and Traditions There are many customs associated with All Souls Day, and these vary greatly from culture to culture. In Mexico they celebrate All Souls Day as el dia de los muertos, or the day of the dead. Customs include going to a graveyard to have a picnic, eating skull-shaped candy, and leaving food out for dead relatives. In Hungary the day is known as Halottak Napja, the day of the dead, and a common custom is inviting orphans into the family and giving them food, clothes, and toys. In rural Poland, a legend developed that at midnight on All Souls Day a great light shone on the local parish. This light was said to be the holy souls of departed parishioners gathered to pray for their release from Purgatory at the altars of their former earthly parishes. After this, the souls were said to return to scenes from their earthly life and work, visiting homes and other places. As a sign of welcome, Poles leave their windows and doors ajar on the night of All Souls Day. In our country, because of the similarities of two festivals (All Saints Day and All Souls day), Halloween and ‘Undras’ have come to be linked and even viewed by some as one celebration. We (Filipinos) especially in the rural areas, prefer to observe the more traditional All Saints Day and ‘Undras’ on the first 2 days of November. We traditionally serve ‘kakanin’ such as suman, puto ang ginataan. Family members who are based on the city return to their family homes to spend the festival with their families, both the living and the dead. Before November, we go to the cemeteries to clean the graves of our departed family members, weeding and sweeping the family plot and painting or whitewashing their tombstones. On the eve of All Saints Day, ‘nangangaluwas’ go door-to-door, requesting gifts and singing a traditional verse representing the liberation of holy souls from purgatory. On either or both days of ‘Undras’, we spend most of the day at the cemetery, bringing food, flowers and candles. Some also visit other cemeteries where relatives are buried. The Halloween season is also regarded as the season for supernatural and ghost stories. During this week, Filipinos share stories of ghosts, hauntings and supernatural beings. Television shows also feature similar material during this time. (churchyear.net slidefinder.net)
Posted on: Wed, 29 Oct 2014 12:14:20 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015