O, ....•.«« 21, 1909. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



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QUAINT DAY 



OF FLOWERS 



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ALL ilNTS' FLORAL FESTIVAL. 



'. -eat Day in New Orleans. 



In I crescent city of New Orleans, 

 quaint wn of Old World customs, All 

 Saints iay is to the public, and to the 

 what Memorial day is in the 

 lie one day of all the year when 

 ' pulcher must needs bear its 

 if remembrance. 



;;iints' day is as broad* as the 

 I Jatholic church, a festival intro- 

 bocause of the impossibility of 

 keepin v a separate day for every saint. 

 First legularly instituted by Gregory 

 [V., ill 835, and appointed to be cele- 

 brateii November 1, it has been ob- 

 served for more than a thousand years, 

 but niiwiicre in the New World so uni- 

 versally or so beautifully as in New Or- 

 leans. There it is the day of universal 

 lecoration of graves, of paying homage 

 to the dead, and the cemeteries, them- 

 selves unlike any others in all the land, 

 are thronged from morning until night. 

 None i.s so humble that his last resting 

 place is left unadorned by those who hold 

 his nu'inory dear; the grave of the la- 

 borer and the tomb of the city's bravest 

 are equally remembered; women in silks 

 and satins and women in garments attest- 





ing lives of toil and sacrifice kneel to- 

 gether with their flowers and offer 

 prayers for the souls of the dead. 



Real Cities of the Dead. 



To the visitor from afar nothing about 

 this old city of the south, with its quaint 

 French quarter of wide renown, is of 

 deepeir interest than its cemeteries — 

 veritable cities of the dead, for there the 

 nature of the ground is such that all 

 that is mortal must be entombed at the 

 surface, not buried under it as has been 

 the almost universal practice of man- 

 kind since the world began. The 

 originality that in other cities goes into 

 the designing of impressive monuments, 

 is here employed upon the sepulchers 

 themselves. Eich marbles and rugged 

 granite are worked with rare art into 

 these resting places of the men of yes- 

 terday. People of other cities come to 

 marvel and admire, but New Orleans 

 herself — she comes to mourn. 



At the gate of each great cemetery of 

 the group, on All Saints' day sits a pa- 

 tient, sweet-faced Sister with her or- 

 phan charge, not seeking alms, but by 

 the very fact of their presence asking 

 that those who bring their flowers remem- 

 ber the living as well as the dead. 



As is so largely the case with Me- 



morial day at the north, the original pur- 

 pose of All Saints' day has been lost. 

 Almost every grave is decorated with 

 its flowers, but after the visit to the 

 family plot or vault, the great crowds 

 of people spend their day walking, walk- 

 ing, walking, up and down the avenues of 

 the cemeteries. It is in a way like the 

 Easter parades of northern cities, except 

 that these are not the fashionable crowds 

 of Fifth avenue — they are the plain 

 people. 



How the Custom Came. 



The custom of decorating the graves 

 on All Saints' day is peculiar to New 

 Orleans and those near-by places that, 

 like the Crescent City, were largely peo- 

 pled by the French, or which have been 

 influenced by the custom in New Or- 

 leans. In France, whence came the idea, 

 the practice is to observe All Souls' day, 

 November 2, which is set apart for pray- 

 ers and almsgiving to alleviate the suf- 

 ferings of the souls in purgatory. There 

 is a measure of decoration on All Saints' 

 day in France, but the real observance 

 is on the day following, just the reverse 

 of the custom in New Orleans, where the 

 decoration of graves on All Souls' day, 

 while practiced to some extent, is noth- 

 ing at all comparable to the universal use 

 of flowers on the day preceding. 



How the observance came to be changed 

 in date is unknown, but it may be that 

 November 1 was taken, many, many 

 years ago, by those who came from Paris 

 and were in reality transplanting to 

 their new home La Fete des Mortes, 

 when everyone visits the cemeteries and 

 when that strange custom is practiced, 

 the living leaving calling cards at the 

 tombs of the dead. Fresh flowers then 

 adorn every grave; the streets are filled 

 with flower stands and those who have 



All Saints' Day Flowers in Old St. Louis Cemetery, New Orleans. 



