All Souls' Day

Yesterday was All Souls' Day which is the day in which many Western Christians commemorate the dead and also pray for the souls in purgatory. The practice of praying for the souls of the dead can be traced all the way back to a passage in Maccabees describing the actions of Judas Maccabeus after a battle:

"He then took up a collection among all his soldiers, amounting to two thousand silver drachmas, which he had sent to Jerusalem to provide for an expiatory sacrifice. In doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the resurrection of the dead in view; for if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death. But if he did this with a view to the splendid reward that awaits those who had gone to rest in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from this sin." (2 Maccabees 43:46)


Since it is a rather somber feast day, I chose a somber color palette and added my memento mori earrings: