There is a rumor that Hoodoo has no holidays.
To the outsider, it certainly seems that way. Not unlike other traditions that have been syncretized within the church, our Hoodoo ways have often taken christian cover.
Specific workings, celebrations, and rituals that honored the dead in mass could find cover in cities with a significant catholic presence. Making All Saints Day no exception to being used as a mask for another cultural practice.
In our tradition, All Saints Day is a Hoodoo Celebration of the Dead.
In the northern hemisphere, late October - early November holds the most holidays yielding to mass cultural celebrations in honor of the other side of life; from Dia de los Muertos, to Ghede, to All Saints Day.
All Saints Day, held on November 1st, is a day where our ancestors and elders would go to their local Black cemetery and clean up, decorate gravesites of their beloveds, hold service, then go on to close out the day with a community banquet.
This tradition is especially found in areas with significant Catholic presence, where Black people socially integrated their Hoodoo beliefs under a catholic calendar. Some other Black churches of other denominations, and Black Cemetery Associations, have a history of recognizing All Saints Day.
In the Chesapeake area, the Brewer Hill Cemetery Association would utilize All Saints Day as a day of service, often bringing in preachers from surrounding Black churches as guest speakers.
Below you will find a guide on how to celebrate All Saints Day.
A Reclamation
Amidst the numerous people dedicated to Black liberation and cultural upliftment, Hoodoo has begun another renaissance.
This page serves as a virtual, non-extensive guide to helping Hoodoos reclaim a Hoodoo Celebration of the Dead: All Saints Day.
*the photos of cemeteries and people in cemeteries used are of the community in New Roads, LA. Taken while they were celebrating All Saints Day, Nov. 1938
Preparation
It all begins with a good clean, the type your mama would have you do before any holiday. Clean your home, both literally and spiritually. After literally cleaning your home in the days leading up to All Saint Day, you can use spiritual cleansers like salt, camphor or sound to move out unwanted energies.
Gather Your Materials: For Home
At the very least you’ll need a white candles and some food. It is also a good idea to get the vices of your dead as an offering (like candy, alcohol, liquor, playing cards if they were a gambler, etc). Tobacco is a powerful, ancestral spirit inviting tool to have, so consider getting a cigar and some liquor (like whiskey or rum). Plan out what meal you want to cook for yourself/family and offer a plate to your ancestors on your altar
Gather Your Materials: For The Cemetery
If you are doing communal cemetery work that day, you’ll need some white candles, and offerings (flowers, fruit) as well as 9 pennies for payment at the gate and alcohol for libation. It is a good idea to carry dimes for individual gravesites that you may visit. You will also need gloves and trash bags to clean up the cemetery for any debris that may be there.
The Morning of All Saints Day
Start your morning with an offering. Clean out the water glass and provide fresh water to your altar. Go to your ancestor altar and invite them through prayer. Before prayer, feel free to light incense or offer puffs of tobacco/cigar smoke. Use the All Saints Day Ancestral Prayer if you don’t know what to say. After prayer, offer your ancestors their vices by placing them on the altar and by saying “thank you.” Dress in all white if desired and cover your head with a head-wrap or hat.
Celebrating at the Cemetery
Black Cities of the Dead (Cemeteries) are often systemically neglected, this is why we must care for them. After gaining entry to the cemetery, give payment at the gate and start cleaning. Pick up any debris found and put trash in trash bags. Make sure to dispose of trash in proper place.
— Care
As a way to honor the dead, decorate the gravesites of your choosing with offering of flowers and small offerings of fruit. If there are parts of the grave that need to be spruced up or corrected, do that before decorating. Offer gravesites of your choosing a dime.
— Decoration
In a location of the cemetery with no graves, light your candles & start your service with libation and smoke offering. During the service, give acknowledgment to the dead buried at the cemetery & talk about the importance of honoring your ancestors. Sing afterwards.
— Celebration
The Evening of All Saints Day
After the cleaning, care, and celebration at the cemetery, join others in a communal space (whether it’s your home, the home of loved ones, church, whichever you are most comfortable with) to feast. Make sure to offer the ancestors a plate of food before anyone living eats. Fill the air with music your ancestors loved, share stories about your kin ancestors or highly elevated ancestors, dance, and commune with the dead.
Ancestor Prom: A Virtual All Saints Day Celebration
A virtual way to celebrate your ancestors and the dead on All Saints Day is by participating in the virtual “Ancestor Prom”.
To participate, post a picture of your ancestors in their best dress, or pictures of elevated ancestors in their best dress.
Make sure to post with the hashtags #AncestorProm
#AllSaintsDay
#Hoodoo
#HoodooHeritageMonth
Click on those hashtags to find other people participating in the Ancestor Prom.
Why Reclaim All Saints Day Now?
It is often thought that death is the great equalizer, however when we look at the state of Black Cemeteries across the nation, we know that not to be true. Black Cemeteries have faced systemic disinvestment for decades due to wealth gaps and gentrification. Due to the lack of care, Black Cemeteries are subject to being vandalized and built over, further destroying these sacred historical sites. Now more than ever, we need to do all that we can to bring dignity to Black Cities of The Dead.
Click on the links to learn more.
“Black cemeteries are crucially important — and all too often neglected”
— Association for the Study of African American Life and History
Support the African American Burial Grounds Network Act
— Learn more about the progress of the bill here. Contact your House Representative and tell them to support the bill.
Historic Cemeteries
Celebrate All Saints with us this year in Baltimore.
Please join the Chesapeake Conjure Society as we wrap up the annual celebration of #hoodooheritagemonth by venerating our honored dead. Sunday, November 5 2023 from 5:30 - 7:30 PM at Mt. Auburn Cemetery here in Baltimore.
COVID precautions will be in place. Masks will be provided to those that need them. Please stay home if you are experiencing any symptoms of COVID. Testing before participating is highly recommended.