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Each year on November 1, Paris and the rest of France observes La Toussaint All Saints Day , a solemn occasion focused on honoring the dead and spending time with family. Full confession: we visited Paris for years without paying much attention to All Saints Day until one sunny fall afternoon when we happened to stroll by Passy Cemetery and noticed several groups of people carrying pots of brightly colored chrysanthemums as they passed through the gates.

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So out of curiousity, we followed them and discovered the usually somber cemetery transformed by bouquets of flowers on the graves. The people who we'd spotted earlier now stood in quiet groups, seemingly lost in reflection and remembrance as they renewed their enduring bond between the living and the dead. If you're wondering about the best things to do on All Saints Day in Paris, that's what you'll find in this article:.

One more thing to know about All Saints Day: The 2-week fall vacation observed by schools across France is known as the Toussaint School Holiday normally just called Toussaint because it always includes All Saints Day. You should expect family-friendly attractions to be more crowded than normal during this period. Paris Discovery Guide is a reader-supported publication.

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Learn more. Despite occurring on the day after Halloween and the same day as La Dia de los Muertos, All Saints Day Toussaint is not directly related to either of them. Instead, it is a solemn religious and family-centered occasion - and much more significant to many Parisians. Toussaint short for La Toussaint , which in turn is short for Tout les Saints, or All Saint's Day takes place on November 1 - coincidentally about the date when Paris's beautiful fall foliage reaches its golden peak.

Toussaint short for La Toussaint , which in turn is short for Tout les Saints, or in English, "All Saint's Day" has its roots in old cultural traditions dating back over 2, years ago when people honored the Dead every spring with dancing, feasting, and bonfires. After Christianity swept through present-day France, these earlier celebrations became transformed during the 6th and 9th centuries into two closely related religious observances: All Saints Day on November 1, which honors recognized as well as unknown saints, and All Souls Day on November 2, when people pray for the "faithfully departed.