A shared universe › Blog › How the dead are remembered in Spain · Español
At the end of October, the cemeteries of Spain fill with buckets, stepladders and bunches of flowers. Whole families clean the gravestone, change the flowers and stay a while in silence in front of a name. It is a very old custom, and every region lives it in its own way.
Although they are lived almost as one, they are two different feasts. 1 November is All Saints’ Day. The date was set in Rome in the eighth century, when Pope Gregory III dedicated a chapel in St Peter’s Basilica to all the saints, and in time it spread to the whole Church.
2 November is the Day of the Faithful Departed, or All Souls’ Day, dedicated to praying for all who have died. It was established in the year 998 by Odilo, abbot of the monastery of Cluny in France, for the monasteries that depended on it. Rome adopted it gradually, much later, around the fourteenth century.
In Spain, 1 November is a national holiday and the 2nd is not. In 2026 the 1st falls on a Sunday and, according to the working calendar published in the Official State Gazette (BOE), nine regions move the day off to Monday the 2nd: Andalusia, Aragon, Asturias, the Canary Islands, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León, Extremadura, Madrid and Navarre. There, the visit to the cemetery, which traditionally took place on the afternoon of All Saints’ Day, may be split between Sunday and Monday.
It is the most widespread gesture throughout the country. Days beforehand, the gravestones and niches are cleaned, the flowers changed and the lettering touched up. Some people go back every year to their parents’ village just for this. At the cemetery you greet the neighbours, talk about those buried there and, sometimes, pray.
For someone who has lost a person recently, that first visit in November can be very hard. You do not have to do it like everyone else or at the same time. Some prefer to go on another, quieter day, or to stay at home with a photograph.
For centuries, in many villages the bells were rung at nightfall to remember the dead and ask for prayers for them. This was the toque de ánimas, the tolling for the souls. According to scholars of popular customs, the tradition faded in the middle of the twentieth century, although in some places the bells still toll for the dead on these days.
In Asturias and Galicia, at some crossroads, there remain the cepillos de ánimas, collection boxes where an alms was left for the dead. And in Galicia the Santa Compaña is still alive as a popular belief: the procession of souls which, according to tradition, walks the roads at night.
Autumn brings chestnuts, and in much of Spain these days are celebrated with them.
In the Canary Islands, from 31 October to 2 November the Finaos are celebrated, from “finados”, the departed. Families gather, chestnuts are roasted, almonds and walnuts are cracked, and the older people tell stories of the dead of the household. In some villages, such as Valsequillo and Telde, in Gran Canaria, or Tiscamanita, in Fuerteventura, the ranchos de ánimas go from house to house with their music to pray for the dead. The tradition has been weakening, and several associations and councils are working to revive it.
That way of remembering, talking about the person who has gone around a table, is perhaps the simplest of all. It needs no date and no place.
Other customs are more recent, although they are already part of these days:
These festivals have something of a reunion about them, and that is why the first November without a loved one usually hurts in a special way. It can help to decide beforehand how you want to spend it: going to the cemetery with someone, preparing the sweet they liked, telling a story about them at the table or, if you do not feel strong enough, doing nothing and asking to be left in peace. Every way is valid.
If these days become too much of an uphill struggle, tell someone you trust. In Spain you can talk to a person at the Teléfono de la Esperanza, 717 003 717, at any time. If you are thinking of ending your life, call 024: it is free and answered 24 hours a day. If you are in another country, call your local emergency number or a helpline there.
The flowers will stay at home, but the remembering can travel. Light a star for those you have lost, a “For someone who is gone” star, with what you would say to them at their grave. It shines for seven days.