In medieval England, Allhallowtide was the Christian version of the festival (Halloween) and lasted three days. 31st October is known as All Saints’ Eve. It was seen as a time for appeasing the dead, when the veil between the worlds is thin. Well into the 19th century, many believed this was when the spirits of the dead roamed the earth.
All Saints’ Day falls on 1 November, when families traditionally attended church, laying flowers and candles on the graves of loved ones. While its origins are also uncertain, All Saint’s Day may be traced back to Pope Gregory III in 8th century BC as a day to remember the saints.
2nd November is All Souls’ Day, when prayers would be said for the dead. It was commonly believed that this was a day for the living to aid souls in purgatory. In some places, bells would be rung to comfort the souls trapped there, scaring away harmful spirits that lurked nearby.
I regularly come to this cemetry, its very peaceful but over the years I have found large volumes of rubbish. I would easily fill a carrier bag full of rubbish each trip and took out 5 black bags away when placing the markers for the nightcache https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC6JDP2_night-at-south-cemetery-dunedin-otago?guid=b14cdff4-2bb2-435f-a48e-5ad790bad58d#cache_logs_table
I thought it might be good to come through and do a clean up of the cemetry and surrounding area ahead of annual celebrations.
Meeting point - car park square of the cemetry.
Rubbish to be left on the edge of parking area, away from graves and out of way of cars. This will get collected.
Please don;t wear your Sunday best and ideally bring some sturdy gloves.
If you would like to find out more about those who now reside here there are a number of great tours, all of the information can be found at the Dunedin i-site.
Vehicles are not allowed in Southern Cemeteries between: 7.30pm - 7.30am from October - March. So if you staying in the area after the event, best to make sure you park on the road outside of the gates.
Dogs are allowed on leash.
Please follow the latest Covid-19 advice as posted on www.covid19.govt.nz