All Saints Day in Spain

Autumn is a beautiful time in the northern latitudes. As an American, I associate autumn with Halloween. It’s one of the two big fall holidays, along with Thanksgiving.

Spanish kids trick or treating at the Americans' house

My first year abroad in Spain, I realized I was being very narrow-minded. Halloween is an American holiday that the rest of the world doesn’t celebrate. I thought the celebration was over on October 31, but watching everyone head up to the local Spanish church the next day, I realized something was still going on, so I got out to see where everyone was headed.

What is All Saints Day?

November 1 is All Saints Day in Spain. Each year, people gather together to remember their loved ones who are no longer with us. Cemeteries are filled with people celebrating, not mourning, deceased relatives. People cover gravestones in elaborate floral displays, candles, and gifts as they celebrate their memories. It’s a beautiful holiday!

All Saints Day flowers at the cemetery

What to See

Traditionally, people lay chrysanthemums over grave markers as a gift and promise to their loved ones that they won’t forget them. This is the most colorful day of the year for cemeteries, and the most lucrative day of the year for florists. Churches hold a mass, sometimes multiple times throughout the day, in memory of the deceased supposedly to shorten their time in purgatory. Sometimes they will even hold the mass in the cemetery.

Olvera church and olive groves

The Celebration

Rather than a day to mourn loss, All Saints Day is a day to celebrate life and memory. You can see people spending time together in church and in the cemeteries, eating traditional sweets, and gathering together in the town to eat castañas, or chestnuts.

Flowers at the cemetery under the castle

Castañas are one of the traditional foods of All Saints Day and become popular in the winter months as someone roasts them over a bonfire or grill to keep warm. Other traditional foods of the festival include almond cakes and huesos de santo (saint’s bones), which are like rolled donuts.

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire in Olvera

How Do Outsiders Participate?

As an American expat in Spain and a non-Catholic, I felt very out of place on All Saints Day. I was nervous to go to the cemetery but I wanted to see the beautiful flowers. I walked up to the cemetery on top of the mountain all by myself, trying to blend in. The locals welcomed me and invited me in. What I didn’t realize was that there are no outsiders. Everyone is welcome to take part in the festival. It’s a beautiful celebration about being together, no matter who you are. When a community comes together to celebrate life, you stop feeling out of place and start feeling part of the community.

All Saints Day in Spain

This is one of the most important religious holidays in Spain. The celebrations in the province of Cádiz are the most notable. In villages and towns throughout the province, you can see candlelit processions on All Saints Day. All Saints Day in Spain is a powerful reminder of how important religion and family are to the Spanish people, even in the modern age.

If you’re traveling to Spain during this time, make sure to stop by the cemeteries wherever you are to see the elaborate decorations. The local people will love to see you celebrate with them on this important festival. Just make sure to account for traffic between October 31 and November 2 as everyone returns to their place of birth to celebrate with their loved ones!

Have you ever been in Spain for All Saints Day? Did you notice any of the celebrations or decorations? Share your story with me in the comments below!

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All Saints Day in Spain

P.S. You might also like 11 Things in Spain That Aren’t Common in the U.S. and Discovering the White Villages of Andalusia

19 thoughts on “All Saints Day in Spain

  1. What a cool experience! I believe Dia De Los Muertos in Mexico is actually the same day as Halloween.

    I used to think Thanksgiving was celebrated beyond American borders. Whoops.

  2. As someone from Arizona, I forget that some of these traditions really originated in Spain and not Mexico 🙂 I guess this is the slightly less morbid version of the Day of the Dead? Those cemeteries do look beautiful graced in flowers, very interesting that they aren’t like “parks” like they are in, e.g. the US, France, Germany, etc. Thanks for sharing about this Lyssie!

    1. I thought it would be super morbid and was kind of nervous to go to the cemetery, but it wasn’t at all! It was strange that it wasn’t a park like they are in the U.S. but I’d guess if the villages weren’t on top of mountains, they’d be more like what we’re used to. It’s interesting how things are different somewhere else!

  3. Since I’m Catholic, I’m familiar with this tradition. But here in Indonesia, we just simply have a mass and pray for the dead. Would be nice if someday I can be in Spain to experience this. Your pictures of gravestones and cemetery are really beautiful though! xx

  4. What a fantastic celebration. I love when you stumble across unexpected celebrations when travelling and it’s even better when you’re invited to join in the celebration. I was once invited to see a funeral in Bali, had a family xmas celebration in Bolivia and a wedding in the UAE. I think these experiences make our lives richer by seeing the life philosophies of what is celebrated, and how, in other cultures.

    1. Oh wow, how cool that you were able to participate in different traditions of other countries!! I think weddings might be the most interesting – they can vary so much!! These experiences definitely make our lives richer and I’d love to add more traditional festivals and celebrations around the world to my bucket list!

  5. I’ve definitely celebrated All Saints’ Day, growing up in a Catholic household (and school), but not to the extent as the Spanish! I think it’s really important for cultures to remember their loved ones that have passed away. It’s one of the few absolute commonalities across all people and cultures- everyone has had someone in their life that is no longer there. Paying respect to them is a great way to remember the good the person brought to their life. It would be amazing to be included in that bittersweet occasion.

  6. It’s a really interested festival that we don’t have in the UK, or the US – actually I think its really healthy to ‘celebrate’ the dead, it helps us to remember them & celebrate their lives as well as their passing.

    1. On All Saints Day, yes! Normally there are no flowers, but for All Saints Day everyone comes to decorate the cemeteries with flowers. Most of the towns in Southern Spain are built on top of mountains so the cemeteries are above ground and on All Saints Day, they are incredible to see!

  7. I like the idea of celebrating this day, it’s nice that instead of mourning people celebrate life and memory. In my country we have 5 days in year when people remember their lost ones and visit cemeteries. A bit too much I think, but the idea of having such celebration is nice indeed.

    1. If you think about it, Halloween is also called “All Hallows Eve”, which means that the next day would be All Hallows Day. Mexico has a similar holiday called Day of the Dead, where they celebrate in their homes. It’s an interesting holiday that we don’t really celebrate in the U.S. so it was very cool to witness. I thought it would be much more awkward and morbid but it was actually warm and beautiful!

  8. It’s such an interesting tradition. I know that especially in the southern part of Spain people are super religious. These celebrations are really spectacular for the tourists, of course. So cool that you went there and covered it!

    1. I actually happened to move there! I had no idea it was a holiday but everyone kept telling me to go to the cemetery that day and I was so confused. So I went and kind of learned as I was there what was going on. It was definitely cool to experience from a semi-local point of view!

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