Help with day of the dead in Spain?

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Alejandro B

It is a Catholic celebration, devoted to our death relatives.

It is one of those days in the calendar in which it is supposedly compulsory attending to mass, as if it were Sunday, these kind of days are religious celebrations and are called "fiestas de guardar".

In this celebration people visit the cementerys where their late relatives are, clean the tombstones or stone plaques, put flowers on them, and pray for their souls.

This celebration is called "The late believers' day" ( "DÃa de los fieles difuntos" en espaÃ±ol ), and it is situated, by the Catholic Calendar ( calendario litÃºrgico en espaÃ±ol ) on November 2nd, but as it is a working day, it is nowadays celebrated the previous day, November 1st, which was a different celebration called "All Saints' Day " ( dÃa de Todos los Santos en espaÃ±ol ). (( Most Spanish People unknown this curiosity )).

In general, there are not more important things on those November 1st celebrations, maybe some villages have their own traditions, ( for example in some zones of Galicia, they still carve pumpkins, a heritage of an old celtic tradition, like Americans do in Halloween ).

In some big citys, some children now dress up and do trick or treat as they have copied that from American films or series.

Some photographs :

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/24/60046228_d2ef4102bb.jpg

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee17/tinaserpon/santos2.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/105/285753609_4a140e8c2a.jpg

http://ajeantigua.iespana.es/040801%20-%20Misa.jpg

knitknackers

In my area of Spain most people go to the cemetery and take flowers and light candles. They also take food and have a picnic with their deceased relatives.

The florist shops are full of wreaths and flowers - good business!

It is a public holiday banks, post offices etc are closed.

Carousel

November 1st in Spain is an important religious day. In English we know it as All Saints Day. It is a national holiday when families visit the graves of their deceased relatives. Where I live you can't get near the cementery by car as the roads are very busy. Everyone can be seen cleaning and tidying the graves and laying flowers. The florist shops at the cementeries are usually very busy.

sweetiegirl_mx_99

Im not sure if you'll find a lot of information since there is not much in Spain.

ALL SAINTS DAY (November 1st)
In many countries with a Catholic heritage, Relatives take some time off to go to cemeteries with candles and flowers and spend the day at the graves of their loved ones, to remember them.
Ofrendas (offerings) are made on this day and people attend to the traditionally play of Don Juan Tenorio.

You'll find lots of info from MEXICO or any other place in Latin America just search for Dia de Muertos but not in Spain. Good luck!

wacespaÃ±a

google it www.espana.com or www.spanishhistory.com

zafir

Day of the Dead is not celebrated in Spain - it's a Mexican holy day based on old Aztec traditions.

All Saints' Day is celebrated in Spain and is a public holiday. Catholics are expected to go to Church on All Saints (1 November), and many Spanish people return to their home towns/villages to lay flowers and offerings to dead relatives in the cemetaries. In some places it quite low-key, in others there are more traditions. Do a search on All Saints Day Spain and you'll find some references, also check out Google Images for some photos.

Jane S

Ummmmmmm. Day of the Dead is a MEXICAN holiday!

they don't celebrate ANYTHING on that day in Spain.

All Saint's Day is a Catholic holiday. You could do a search on that.

All I can remember is that we had Nov. 1 off from classes.

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