All Saints' Day, All Souls' Day and Día de los Muertos: Flowers for the Grave in Early November

In much of the world, the first two days of November are the days for the dead. All Saints' Day on November 1 and All Souls' Day on November 2 fill Catholic cemeteries from Poland to the Philippines with candles and chrysanthemums. In Mexico and across the American Southwest, Día de los Muertos brings marigolds, food and music to the graves. American families with those roots keep the traditions here, and many others have adopted them.

All Saints' and All Souls'

In the Catholic tradition All Saints' honors those in heaven and All Souls' prays for those on the way. In practice both days are for visiting the family graves, cleaning them, and leaving flowers and candles. The flower of the day across Europe is the chrysanthemum: in France, Italy, Poland and much of Central Europe it is placed on graves in such numbers on November 1 that it is not given as a gift at any other time. White and bronze mums, in pots or as arrangements, are the tradition.

Many American Catholic cemeteries hold a blessing of the graves on or near All Souls' Day, with a priest walking the rows. Flowers placed the week before are there for it.

Día de los Muertos

The Day of the Dead, November 1 for children and November 2 for adults, is a celebration rather than a mourning. Families clean and decorate the graves, often spending the night in the cemetery with food, music and stories. The elements:

• Cempasúchil (marigolds). The orange marigold is the flower of the holiday. Its color and scent are said to guide the dead home. Marigolds cover the grave, line the path to it, and fill the ofrenda at home.
• Candles, one for each person remembered, lit at the grave and on the ofrenda.
• Food and drink the person loved, pan de muerto, sugar skulls with the person's name.
• Papel picado, the cut paper banners, strung above the grave.
• Photographs of the person, on the grave and on the ofrenda.

Cemeteries in the Southwest, California and Texas expect and welcome the decorations; some hold their own Día de los Muertos events. Elsewhere, check the cemetery's rules on candles and on items left overnight, which many prohibit.

Keeping the tradition from far away

The families most likely to keep these days are often the families most likely to be far from the graves: immigrants and their children, with parents and grandparents buried in another state or another country. For graves in the United States, a delivery of marigolds or chrysanthemums for the first of November, with a photo sent back to the family, lets the day be kept even when nobody can travel. The ofrenda at home and the flowers at the grave are the two halves of the tradition; the photo joins them.

The early-November clean-up

Many cemeteries clear decorations in early November, and in areas with a strong All Souls' or Día de los Muertos tradition they schedule the clean-up after the holiday rather than before. Ask the office. Our guide to cemetery flower rules explains how to find the dates.