Blessed All Saints Day, and All Souls Day

Since entering this Post I've re-read it, and made a few changes to it to help distinguish and clarify the two Feast days which are confused here.

All Saints Day is a feast day, when Catholics pray to all the Saints, known and unknown, to honor and glorify them, and ask for their help and blessings. The Saints in Heaven are called The Church Triumphant.

The Feast of All Saints Day, on November 1st, is a Holy Day of Obligation when Catholics go to Mass, Feast, and celebrate the Saints of the Church. 

The Vigil, or day before, of this Feast is now called Halloween (All Hallow's eve, or Holy Eve), it's practice today is not Catholic, but the Vigil is.

vig·il

ˈvijəl/

noun

2.(in the Christian Church) the eve of a festival or holy day as an occasion of religious observance

1. 
   

   
   

   
   

All Souls Day, November 2nd,  as the pictures below show, each country has its own activities and celebrations for these feast days, but during the next 8 days after All Souls, Catholics focus on our dearly departed family and loved ones, pray for the 'beatific vision' for them, and celebrate God's great gift of giving them to us, and try harder to follow their good example. Those in Purgatory are called The Church Suffering. They can't pray for themselves, they rely on our payers.

All around the world, Catholics (Catholics on earth are called The Church Militant) pray for the souls of the departed at cemeteries leaving votive candles and flowers All Soul's Day and for the next eight days.

 'The Day of the Dead' or 'Dia di Muertos' in Mexico, the 'Bones of the Dead' or 'Ossa di Morto' from Italy are just two off-shoots of All Souls Day. Here are some pictures of the different celebrations from around the world. (www.catholic.org has more information about this Feast and how it's celebrated around the world.)

The Japanese Saints/Martyrs.

The Catholic Church does not 'make' saints, she raises up saints from amongst sinners like us, declares their teaching is free from error, can be followed by the faithful, and the miracles associated with them are verified. The Church plays 'Devil's Advocate' during the process, and it may take centuries for the 'saint' to go through the entire canonization procedure. It's a very exhaustive and thorough process, because the Church is declaring, when she announces a saint, that they have reached 'the beatific vision'.

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