NEW ORLEANS — Halloween festivities gave way to the more solemn All Saints Day.
It’s a day when traditions run deep in New Orleans.
Many local family members visit the grave sites and tombs of their loved ones.
“We all come and bring flowers and make sure that the tomb is taken care of, wash it down, paint it,” Felecia Falgoust Bonnett said.
Bonnett and her husband David spent part of the morning at her family mausoleum at the McDonoghville Cemetery on the Westbank.
“My parents are buried here,” Bonnett said. “It’s something that I grew up doing as a child. This is part of my tradition for All Saints Day.”
Reoland Isaac tended to his mother’s grave nearby, then paused to say a prayer.
“I’m just carrying on the tradition that my family saw forth and my mother taught us to always pray, no matter where you’re at,” Isaac said.
David Reynolds says he comes to the McDonoghville Cemetery on All Saints Day to talk to his deceased loved ones.
“I missed my loved ones especially around the holidays, especially around this time, Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up,” Reynolds said. “We all would be together, you know, it’s very important for me to be here.”
All Saints Day is another reason why people say New Orleans has a way of celebrating life like no other city on the planet…even in death.
“We’ve been coming ever since I was a little kid, every year to honor our deceased relatives,” Isaac said.
“Just spend a little time thinking about them and remembering days past,” Bonnett said.
New Orleans also recognizes All Saints Day as the anniversary of the Black and Gold.
On this day, 56 years ago, the NFL officially awarded the city a pro football franchise. Thus, the name, New Orleans Saints.