All Saints All Souls, November 1st and 2nd

One of my favorite series of holy days in the Church year is also one of the most neglected. This is Allhallowtide, which is: All Hallow’s Eve (a.k.a. All Saints Eve), All Saints Day, and All Souls Day. The first of these days has become a secular celebration in America as Halloween; and, per usual, this has spread across the world so that even in Italy, La Festa di Ognissanti and Il Giorno dei Morti are being supplanted or expanded by “la festa americana di Halloween.”

But! Here in church we can continue to offer this treasure from our tradition. These three days involve praying for those who have died, and celebrating the saints: holy Christians who have gone before us. If you aren’t sure about this “praying for the dead” situation, here’s a great article over at Earth & Altar about praying for the dead in Anglicanism. And they also have this succinct article introducing Allhallowtide as a whole. If you serve a congregation that doesn’t have a tradition of marking these days, that latter article called “Reclaiming the Sacredness of Spook” would be great to include in your newsletter as the days approach.

Where should it be?

For the service, use whatever space you normally pray and worship in. If you are not the priest or rector, you might get some pushback or suggestions that the service be in a more “kid-specific” or “kid-friendly” space—but if the place where you celebrate the Eucharist is not kid-friendly, you actually have a pretty big problem! A big dark nave and dark pews barely lit by candlelight is a perfect spot for kids. If it will be a small group and your covid-safety parameters allow it, you could gather just in the quire or chancel, close to the altar, and keep the rest of the church in darkness.

For the dinner and party, choose a big room with space for children to run around and for enough tables for everyone to sit down and eat. If you have a Parish Hall with a kitchen, that’s the best spot!

When should it be?

The Feast of All Saints is always on November 1st and the Feast of All Souls is always on November 2nd; it should be within the 8-day octave of both these, so between November 2nd and November 8th. It should not be before these days (e.g. on Halloween) because in the Church we don’t celebrate feasts in advance.

For timing, I found that having this as a service, dinner, and party in the evening worked very well. At my current parish, I’ll be hosting just the party on Sunday right after church. But ideally, having this special service in the dark with candlelight makes the party part even more meaningful.

What do you need for the service?

1. Small Vigil Candles: These are for everyone (yes, including children!) to hold during the service. At my current parish I splurged and bought these real beeswax candles; they smell so good! (I like the company because it’s in my home state, uses biodegradable and recyclable packaging, and pays its employees a living wage).

2. A Font: I hope that your baptismal font is already in your church and always visible! But if not, you’ll need to get it out. The bulletin (see below) is set up to process to a font at the back at the church. If it’s somewhere else, just make sure to time in your chanting and walking correctly.

3. The Bulletins: Have enough printed for everyone—yes, including small children who may or may not be able to read! There’s a file below that you can edit as you need.

3b. The Litany: This is one part of the service that is especially open to adaptation. It would be very good to use saints whom your local community (town, city, state, region) value, as well as those associated with any concerns you work with. Since we taught the Godly Play saint lessons, I was sure to include those saints in the litany, as our youngest members would recognize them.

3c. A Priest to Bless the Water OR an Edit to the Bulletin. In our tradition, only priests can bless water to use for asperging during a church service. So, if you yourself are not a priest, rope one in for at least this part! (Most of us love things like this.) If you don’t have a priest available, the service can be tweaked—just send me an email if you need help doing that.

What do you need for the party?

There are a few elements: a visual scavenger hunt based on images and verses hung around the room; a halo, crown, and tambourine craft; and a dress-up and picture station. Also: dinner! All the files for these are below.

1. Visual Scavenger Hunt: This is a little bit like the visual scavenger hunt I posted for the Michaelmas party—big tabloid-size posters in color, and printed sheets with markers and pencils for drawing.

1b. Prizes: These are for completing the scavenger hunt, and can be very simple, like some Christian stickers or those paper glitter crowns from Target.

2. Halo Craft: This is the same craft used at Michaelmas, that uses plain (hard) headbands and sparkly and/or colorful pipe cleaners.

3. Crown Craft: Some saints were queens or kings, and all saints will receive crowns in heaven! This craft uses construction paper, safety scissors, tape, and markers. (You could also glitz it up with fancy stickers if you want to spend money.)

4. Tambourine Craft: Why tambourines? Because the saints are making music in heaven! This requires pipe cleaners and small bells with little bails or loops; you can get them at a local craft store or Amazon. There’s an instruction sheet below to put in a plastic stand.

5. Dress-up & Pictures: If you have a Christmas pageant, just get lots of those costumes out! You can also add thrifted items that recall the saints’ symbols (a shell, a staff, etc). If your Sunday School uses the Godly Play curriculum, make sure to have what you need for kids to dress up like the saints there: Saint Margaret of Scotland (a crown, a bunch of flowers), Saint Columba (a dove, a big book), Saint Julian of Norwich (a book, an acorn), etc.

It’s extra cool if you can decorate an area where people can pose for pictures. Is there a fancy rug you can drag into the Parish Hall? Or some big plants or vases of flowers you can move over? Or a light bishops’ chair you can borrow from the sanctuary? A little goes a long way in making it feel like a special moment!

6. Dinner: I served in a wealthy church that could afford big tins of prepared food from Wegmans (e.g. a hot pasta dish, a vegetable platter, etc). Many churches might prefer a potluck, or perhaps just one simple dish (pizza, pasta, sandwiches) as dinner. Whatever it is, make sure that you have enough hands and time for set-up and clean up, so that someone can be helping children with crafts and costumes.

Communications and Invitations

a. I put this on our big handout calendar at the start of the year.

b. My weekly email to families has a shifting calendar at the bottom of it that always has the upcoming three or four weeks, so it will be mentioned there for a while.

c. The week prior, I’ll announce it during the Sunday service and post the invitation above on our instagram and facebook.

Prep and Setting Up

a. Two Weeks Before
I’d have the big posters with images printed tabloid-size and laminated, so that I can reuse them each year. I’d also print out the scavenger sheets and handouts. I’d start gathering all the Pageant costumes, especially if they’re in an inconvenient spot and/or need to be aired out a bit.

b. The Weekdays Before
I’d assemble all the crafting and writing materials in good baskets or boxes and make sure the printouts are ready. I’d collect all of this in one corner of my office. All the costumes should be in one close spot. Finalize the bulletin and print enough copies.

b. The Afternoon Of
Quite a few hours in advance, I’d make sure the room is ready for the party, and move allll the costume items to a corner: set them out in an appealing way so that people of all heights and abilities can get to what they want. If you have a sexton or strong volunteers, this is a good time to get their help in pulling out the dinner tables and setting them up. This is also the time to set out the candles in the church (but don’t light any!) and make sure everything is ready for the service.

d. Right Before
Is the food ready (if you’re having dinner)? Leave everything in the parish hall and wait in the church for people to arrive. Light the candles and get the lighting as you want it. Say a prayer and get ready to welcome people!

What Happens at the Service?

The annotated service bulletin (below) describes the choreography, and the bulletin itself has all the text you need.

One of my favorite parts is the chanting of the litany of the saints. I first heard this years ago at the Great Vigil of Easter at SSJE (audio). This litany is shorter, and you can adapt is as would be best for your parish.

What Happens at the Party?

1. Ideally, everyone sort of hangs out and does what they want!

2. It’s helpful to have an adult dedicated to helping the youngest children in assembling the craft. You can still wander around, but just keep an eye

Below are some pictures of the event at my last parish way back in 2018, when it was a Friday evening dinner. I’ll post more after our own party on 6 November 2022.

What I’ll Do Differently Next Time

I’m still working on making these Church Parties more accessible for different abilities. I’d like to find something for children and adults who are blind, as well as a simpler scavenger hunt or other activity for people who have intellectual disabilities.

Files for Your Party

And here is an instagram-size image on Canva that you can copy and change the dates and times.