ALL SOULS’ DAY AND THE LIGHTING OF THE GRAVES
Photo courtesy of author.
We parked on the dirt road and walked through the high grass to the rusty wrought iron gates of the Mandeville cemetery and stepped onto the cracked, sun-bleached sidewalk dimly lit by paper luminaries. The Roman Catholic priest adorned in his traditional white vestments, along with several members of the Knights of Columbus dressed in full regalia, were awaiting all who came to listen to their Blessing of the Graves on this cool evening of All Souls’ Day in southeastern Louisiana.
A full moon shone down its warm and milky yellow light onto the graveyard where hundreds of small flickering tealight candles were strewn. The sidewalks and small paths were lined, and each headstone illuminated. It was eerily beautiful as the colorful dusk turned into the darkest of nights. Stars filled the sky with more flickering light as the family members of the deceased lingered around the plots of their loved ones waiting for the priest to bless them and sprinkle holy water on the faces of the hard stone. Colorful flowers and arrangements were carefully placed, decorating the old headstones, crypts, and mausoleums.
The cemetery was enveloped in large groupings of pine trees and filled with fresh, crisp fall air that was only mildly disrupted by the scent of burnt wicks and incense. I stopped in front of the oldest aboveground crypt. It was enclosed by a bent, black, wrought iron gate but still seemed inviting. The cracked steps and crumbling brick columns along its sides were topped with candles reflecting a red-orange glow illuminating the entire crypt. A heavy stone cross sat atop the arched front and the name “Theophile Prudhomme” was etched in marble above the entrance. This handsomely decorated crypt served as the centerpiece of the evening’s festivities. Much like Ash Wednesday seems to calm the insanity that is Mardi Gras here in Louisiana, this gravesite served as a reminder of the beautifully solemn tradition that follows Halloween.
Drawn to a cluster of floral crosses lit by more candles than I had seen on the whole grounds, I approached a family plot. There was a woman kneeling and praying and I asked if this was her family and she slowly nodded. I then asked if it was okay to photograph them in the full moonlight because it was so beautiful, and she said, “Of course.” I snapped a few pictures and she looked at me, tears welling, and said “that’s my mother, father, grandparents, my son, and my nephew.” Her voice cracked after she said “son” and then broke down in muffled tears at her feet. I gently hugged her and told her this was such a beautiful way to honor them, and I appreciated her letting me witness this moment. She smiled at me, standing there alone under the stars remembering those closest to her. It was a breathtaking moment I’ll never forget.
All Hallowtide refers to the triduum of All Hallow’s Eve (Halloween), All Saints Day (La Toussaint in France and French Louisiana), and All Souls Day. The Christian holidays of All Saints and All Souls commemorate “the souls of the faithfully departed from this world.”
For Roman Catholics, “The faithful” refers specifically to baptized Roman Catholics. “All saints” refers to the church triumphant of saints in heaven. “All souls” refers to the church penitent of souls in purgatory. The Anglican church also celebrates All Saints in high style, and All Souls Day is seen as an extension of All Saints Day. A collection of names of deceased are generally collected from a congregation and read aloud at All Saints’ services. While the Anglican church officially denounces the doctrine of purgatory, there is believed to be a cleansing or continued process of growth and development after death. The Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches celebrate their dead several times throughout the year and do not associate the customs with the month of November.
While All Saints is a celebration of the communion of saints and people who have, through good and righteous deeds, got a one-way ticket to heaven, All Souls is a celebration of all the faithful departed, in hope of the resurrection (both theirs and our own as it were), giving thanks for their life and effect on our individual lives and stories.
All Saints and All Souls are celebrated across Catholic and Anglican Europe, Mexico (as Día de los Muertos), and the United States, but the Lighting of the Graves on All Souls is largely limited to New Orleans and the Acadiana region of South Louisiana. This custom is sometimes carried out on the evening of All Saints Day, but generally depends on the individual church doing the blessings and candle lighting. Refurbishing and beautifying the graves of loved ones, families clear overgrowth, place floral arrangements (or coronne de toussaints) and altars, and sometimes coat the stone fronts with a mix of lime and water (whitewash) in preparation for the blessing. This act of service and remembrance freshens up the tombs and shows the utmost respect for their faithfully departed friends and family they so treasure.
Memorial candles have been a ritual for thousands of years across an array of cultures, religions, and backgrounds. This can be traced back to civilizations in the early 4th and 5th centuries and the Macedonians who honored their dead by lighting candles for up to 40 days after death. They believed the bright flame deterred ghosts and demonic influences that may seek out the departed one’s soul. At the Mandeville Cemetery where I take part in the All Souls service every year, thousands of memorial candles are placed throughout the grounds, so each name and each face of stone is lit in remembrance whether there is extant family present or not.
The ancient tradition of lighting the graves is believed to be passed down from the Choctaws to the French Creoles who lived in the rural areas of South Louisiana and Mississippi and is continued traditionally today, most significantly in the areas of the north shore (St. Tammany Parish in Louisiana) including the cities of Lacombe, Mandeville, and Covington.
In the Choctaw tradition, when a relative passes, the family creates a fire at the spot of death or in front of their home for 4 days. Day and night loved ones stoked the fire to keep it going and used it as a source of comfort in their time of loss. In some communities, they had a celebration of the dead annually in May or November. Several Choctaw families, particularly in the southern Mississippi area, still practice the ancient tradition of burning fires after death today. (1)
In the nineteenth century, death was a regular part of life, and properly mourning your dead was seen as a societal obligation and taken very seriously. There was a high mortality rate in New Orleans during this time, especially among children, and families found themselves surrounded by death. Our signature heat and humidity were breeding grounds for pathogens and insects that carried diseases like smallpox, yellow fever, cholera, and malaria. In 1853, these devastating diseases gave New Orleans the distinction of the single highest annual death rate of any state during the entire nineteenth century. The burial count in the city’s cemeteries that year ranged from 150 to 250 per day.
On All Saints Day, people packed up picnic baskets and gathered their family and friends for a day at the park-like cemeteries. Cemeteries were well kept during this time when the city was so filthy and laden with soil and disease, so the “cities of the dead” (as we like to call them here) became serene, grassy, and well-manicured parks. Street vendors sold food, flowers, and trinkets, all for the business of death. All Saints Day became a celebration as lively as any other formal holiday, with colorful bunches of arrangements and altars dedicated to their ancestors, not unlike decorating a Christmas tree. Sharing stories of the departed ones’ lives helped the younger generations carry the legacies on through future generations.
While you can experience the prayerful All Saints Day throughout our magnificent city’s many cemeteries the day after Halloween, the Lighting of the Graves is reserved mainly for the north shore areas of Lacombe, Mandeville, and Covington Louisiana, and is celebrated on the evenings of All Saints Day and All Souls Day depending on location. Some small cemeteries are private, and while they are generally accustomed to having an audience, please always be respectful and ask before taking pictures or video. Remember that this is a time of prayerful dedication to the families’ deceased loved ones and not meant as a tourist draw. Historic Mandeville Cemetery, however, is open to the public for their traditional Blessing of the Graves ceremony on the evening of All Souls. I highly recommend this experience for anyone wanting to be immersed in the culture of South Louisiana and bask in the pale moonlight, witness to a slice of our Creole and Choctaw history you can only experience here.
https://www.louisianafolklife.org/LT/Articles_Essays/choctaw_hert.html
