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October 31, 2007
Feature Photo: All Soul's Day
A side "alley" shot from St. Louis Cemetery Number Three, located on Esplanade Avenue near Bayou St. John. These are French/Spanish style tombs, indicated by the wrought iron fencing around each one. The tomb in the foreground is a "single," meaning a single vault. the next three are "doubles," with two vaults. Doubles are more common as family tombs because they can be more easily re-used. A vault in a tomb can be re-used after one year and one day, but what happens if there's another death in the family within that time period? That's why the second vault, there's usually one available.
The level of upkeep to these three tombs is the connection to Halloween/All Saints/All Souls, and why I chose this photo for today. The double tomb in the center of the photo is much better maintained than its neighbors. When you buy a plot in a New Orleans cemetery, one of the purchase options is "perpetual care." Think of perpetual care as an extended warranty. Tombs with perpetual care contracts are maintained by the cemetery. The money is put in a reserve fund to make sure the cemetery doesn't fall into disrepair and decay. The failure of Christ Church to establish reserves for Girod Street Cemetery was one of the main reasons that cemetery had to be demolished in the 1950s--it was just too far gone and the chapter didn't have the money to fix the property.
Still, perpetual care can only do so much in terms of upkeep. That's why the first and third (from the right) tombs in the photo are dirty. The one in the middle is probably owned by a family who still keeps the All Saints' Day tradition.
You see, it's a Catholic thing. The Feast of All Saints (November 1st) is the Church's "catch all" feast day. Catholics pray to "saints," people whose souls they believe are in heaven with God. They pray to these folks to intercede for them with God for any number of reasons. There are two kinds of saints, those who are designated as such by the Church, and everyone else. The standard used to determine sainthood is pretty tough (in spite of accusations of political manipulation of the designation over the centuries), so the Church decided that November 1st would be the day to honor all the folks who have gone before us but can't quite be "officially" designated as being in heaven.
So, November 1st is what Catholics call a "day of obligation," when they're required to attend Mass. For years, not only schools would take November 1st off, but even many businesses would close, so folks could go to Mass. In spite of this, however, it's not All Saints' Day that is really important to New Orleanians. A New Orleans family matriarch knows that, while her late husband was a good man, he wasn't perfect. She worries about his immortal soul. She goes to Mass on All Saints' Day because the pope said so, but she also goes to Mass the next day, November 2nd, All Souls' Day, because she's no fool. She figures her hubby isn't in heaven just yet, but he's in "purgatory," doing penance for a period of time before he's allowed inside the pearly gates. All Souls' Day is when Catholics pray that their loved ones will be brought to heaven as soon as possible.
To show a family worries about their loved ones who have died, the family would all get on the streetcar after Mass on September 1st and go up to the cemetery to fix up the family tomb. The French would take the Esplanade line up to the bayou. The Irish took the Canal streetcar to St. Patrick's, and the Germans went to St. Joseph's on Washington Avenue. Everyone would bring cleaning supplies and a few gallons of whitewash and they'd spruce things up.
New Orleans tombs are really very simple in construction. They're brick-and-mortar, which is then plastered and whitewashed. Families with a bit more financial resources will have a veneer of marble or granite added on the exterior, but most tombs are just plastered brick. That's why two of the tombs in the photo are so dirty, nobody's scrubbed them down for some time now.
So, I hope everyone has a safe All Hallows' Eve tonight, leading into a quiet All Saints' Day. If you're so inclined, pause for a moment tomorrow and Friday and remember your family like we do in New Orleans.
Posted by YatPundit at October 31, 2007 8:01 AM