All Saints' Day is our longest-awaited autumn festival, during which we follow the custom of eating chestnuts and making panellets or small marzipan pasties. But the festivities are also that time of the year when we remember our dearly departed and go the cemetery to bring them flowers. In fact, All Saints' Day is on 1 November, when we eat chestnuts and panellets. The following day, on 2 November, is All Souls Day, when we visit the dead in the cemetery and theatre performances are given.
All Saints' Day is that time of the year when the weather starts to get colder and the days shorter; and nature, now that summer is over, appears to enter a period of death. Which is why it is not surprising that many cultures have established a day around this date, since time immemorial, for remembering the dead. The All Saints' Day festival is actually a Celtic legacy. The Celts held the Sahmain festival in honour of the dead on 1 November, being the start of the darkest period, a time they regarded as magical given that they believed links were established between the respective worlds of the living and the dead.
All Saints' Day is a festival during which we remember the dead. Hence the custom of going over to the cemetery and visiting our forefathers' graves and tombs, of tidying them up and decorating them with flowers. This tradition is strongly linked to Christianity but the cult came from ancient Celtic beliefs.
Barcelona's cemeteries extend their opening hours to attend to the needs of the public during the All Saints' weekend. Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona likewise beefs up its bus service connecting the city's main cemeteries.
Preventive measures against Covid-19
Cemeteries of Barcelona have reinforced all the protocols to favor that the access to the enclosures and the movement of people is done with all the preventive measures in the current health situation. There will be a control of access to cemeteries to regulate the entrances and exits and the access of people will be regulated to guarantee the distance between users that the health authorities mark in order to avoid crowds. In addition, in the cemeteries of Poblenou, Sant Andreu and les Corts, there will be civic agents to reinforce the information on preventive measures.
The prevention measures are as follows:
- Mandatory use of a mask, respect the distance between users and wash hands frequently.
- Eating or drinking is not allowed on cemetery grounds.
- If you use the stairs to access the niches, you must wash your hands before and after using it.
- Maintain a distance when sitting on the benches located inside the enclosure.
VIDEO: The Night of All Saints in the Cemeteries of Barcelona.
Schedule cemeteries
All cemeteries will remain open from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm on October 24, 25 and 31 and November 1.
Public transport
Until November 1, Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona launches a plan to reinforce the service of bus lines 21, 107, 961, 991 and 992 that communicate with the cemeteries.
From October 24 to November 1 bus line 107 (the inner line of the Montjuic cemetery) will be reinforced with more cars. As of October 24, line 991 (Plaça d'Eivissa - Cementiri de Collserola) will add more vehicles.
On October 25 and 31 and November 1, the line 21 (Paral·lel - El Prat) will be reinforced with more vehicles. Line 992 (Fabra i Puig - Cementiri de Collserola) will have add more vehicles from October 24 to November 1.
In addition, on November 1 a special shuttle bus service will connect the Plaça de Espanya and the Montjuïc Cemetery to facilitate a more direct connection.
More information: tmb.cat
One of the most distinctive features of the All Saints' Day festivities are the stalls that are put up at various spots in the city, selling paper-wrapped toasted chestnuts and sweet-potatoes cooked over embers. More than 30 of these will be put up this year throughout Barcelona's ten districts.
- Avinguda de Francesc Cambó, 16 (Map +)
- La Rambla, 120 (Map +)
- Passeig de Joan de Borbó, 1 (Map +)
- Pla de la Boqueria, 3 (Map +)
- Ronda de Sant Antoni, 102 (Map +)
- Ronda de Sant Pau, 76 (Map +)
- Carrer d'Aribau, 2 (Map +)
- Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, 522 (Map +)
- Rambla de Catalunya, 2 (Map +)
- Passeig de Sant Joan, 2 (Map +)
- Carrer de la Creu Coberta, 24 (Map +)
- Carrer de Vila i Vilà, 101 (Map +)
- Plaça de Sants, 1 (Map +)
- Avinguda Diagonal, 589 (Map +)
- Avinguda Diagonal, 668 (Map +)
- Carrer de Déu i Mata, 49 (Map +)
- Carrer Major de Sarrià, 1 (plaça d'Artós) (Map +)
- Carrer de Muntaner, 331 (Map +)
- Plaça d'Adrià, 1 (Map +)
- Plaça de Joaquim Folguera, 3 (Map +)
- Avinguda de la Riera de Cassoles, 66 (Map +)
- Carrer de Bailén, 207 (Map +)
- Carrer del Tajo, 37 (Map +)
- Passeig de Valldaura, 183 (Map +)
- Passeig de Verdum, 55 (Map +)
- Plaça de Francesc Layret, 1 (Map +)
- Passeig de Maragall, 160 (Map +)
- Passeig de Fabra i Puig, 116 (Map +)
- Avinguda Diagonal, 26 (Map +)
- Avinguda Diagonal, 211 (Map +)
- Carrer dels Enamorats, 154 (Map +)
- Carrer de Llull, 386 (Map +)
- Carrer de Pallars, 63 (Map +)
- Carrer de Pallars, 218 (Map +)
- Rambla del Poblenou, 57 (Map +)
- Rambla del Poblenou, 124 (Map +)
Tots Sants food & drink
They are the star food of Tots Sants: they are wrapped in paper and their scalds spread throughout the city.
Made of pine nuts, almond, coconut, coffee, chocolate ... the tastes are infinite!
Seasoned with sugar or accompaining salty dishes, sweet potatoes are a very versatile ingredient.
