The market in Gruz is full of colorful flower bouquets. Arrangements are ready for the commemoration of All Saints and Souls’ day, which will be marked on the 1st and 2nd Novembre. These two days, for every Catholic Croatian citizen, are the time to think of their beloved ones who had passed away, to visit their last resting place and to decorate with flowers, a sign of attention and faith.
Feast of All Saints is a solemnity celebrated on 1 November by the Roman Catholic Church and various Protestant denominations, and on the first Sunday after Pentecost in Eastern Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, in honour of all the saints, known and unknown. The liturgical celebration begins at Vespers on the evening of 31 October and ends at the close of 1 November. It is thus the day before All Souls’ Day.
In Catholic theology, the day commemorates all those who have attained the beatific vision in Heaven. It is a national holiday in many historically Catholic countries. In the Catholic Church and many Anglican churches, the next day specifically commemorates the departed faithful who have not yet been purified and reached Heaven. Christians who celebrate All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day do so in the fundamental belief that there is a prayerful spiritual bond between those in heaven (the “Church triumphant”), and the living (the “Church militant”).
