People Die Only when We Forget Them
With the mission of remembering our ancestors, in Roman Catholic countries of Latin origin, All Saints’ Day is celebrated on 1st November. The celebration commemorates the complete sanctification of the people’s death who, after having passed purgatory, have achieved the beatific vision and can now enjoy eternal life according to Christian beliefs. The celebration of All Saints’ Day traces its origin to the early Church custom of commemorating the anniversary of a martyr’s death at the site of martyrdom. It was very common for groups of martyrs to die on the same day. For this reason, a common celebration was started to commemorate them all. Pope Gregory IV established 1st November as All Saints’ Day in the mid-ninth century.
In Spain, a country traditionally dominated by Catholic faith, All Saints’ Day is a public holiday throughout its regions today. This allows the whole family to get together to bring flowers to the tombs of the deceased and eat typical sweets. The symbolic black of death contrasts with the colorful flowers and help to develop a memory process for deceased people – a collective ritual of death that helps overcome the trauma of losing our family members. Death thus takes on meaning in the cycle of life as the beginning of eternal life, and public recognition is given to it through All Saints’ Day.
Written by: José Antonio Parcha Barruetabeña, intern at ACRPJ
