All Saints and All Souls Day

in Italy

In November in Italy there are two important religious feasts :

- La Festa Di Ognissanti (All Saints Day)

and - Il Giorno Dei Morti

(All Souls Day)

These days are very important in the Catholic tradition

La Festa di Ognissanti, (or the All Saints Feast)

is celebrated on November 1st,

and it celebrates all the Saints of the Catholic calendar.

This day is a public holiday and all the schools

are closed.

Il Giorno Dei Morti (or the All Souls Day)

is celebrated on November 2nd

It represents an important feast

People believe that their dearly departed will visit them on that day.

In this day families go to cemeteries

with candles and flowers

and pray for their dead loved ones.

There are many popular traditions on this day.

The rituals are diferent in several parts of the Country.

In some parts of North Italy

people leave a bottle of fresh water and a little bread in the kitchen for the whole night,

so that the dead can drink and eat

Some people used to offer biscuits, made with sugar and honey,

known as the "ossi dei morti" (the bones of the dead), to their lovers.

In Sicily

people let kids believe that if they pray and they are good they will then receive gifts from dead

people.