Cemetery Sunday is an annual ancestor veneration observance held in Roman Catholic and other cemeteries in some areas of Ireland and along routes of Irish migration. Parishioners prepare by cleaning family graves and, in some cemeteries, decorating the graves. Grave decorations incorporate flowers as well as crafts and mementos. In cemeteries where a priest is not available, Cemetery Sunday may still be held absent the formal service and blessing.
Dates observed
, the date varies by parish, and is typically in summer. Parishes coordinate to avoid scheduling Cemetery Sunday on the same week so that families can attend services at all cemeteries where their relatives are buried. For churches which are no longer used, Cemetery Sunday can the only regularly held service on the grounds. In the United States, Cemetery Sunday is the first Sunday in November, around the time of All Souls' Day.
Observance in Ireland
Earliest Irish observances
, had an long-established tradition of cemetery cleaning and decoration in conjunction with the Fair of St. James, historically held on July 25, the Pattern Sunday for St. James. There are records of burials at St. James as early as 1495 and it is believed that the cemetery may have been in use as early as the 13th century. There is no known documentation of when cemetery decoration began at the St. James Cemetery, but it was well established by the early 19th century. The fair itself was banned from the public streets by the 1730s but continued in a smaller way next to the cemetery through the 1820s. In 1821, G. N. Wright wrote of a custom to "deck the graves with garlands and ornaments, made of white paper, disposed into very extraordinary forms". By 1828, Nicholas Carlisle characterized St. James cemetery decoration as an custom that was already old: Burials continued in the St. James Cemetery through the 19th and 20th century before ceasing completely due to the closure of the cemetery.
Ritual elements
Cemetery maintenance and decoration
Cleaning
For days or weeks before the designated Cemetery Sunday at a particular cemetery, family members of those buried there work to clean and tidy the graves. This may also include removing overgrown plants and debris from the cemetery and other general maintenance to the grounds.
Flowers
Cemetery decoration often features cut flowers. Homemade crepe paper flowers were also common in early St. James cemetery decoration. Today, artificial flowers are often used. Flowers can be placed on graves in any number of ways, including in patterns.
Grave tokens
Decoration can include the placing of tokens at individual graves. Tokens are often personal or household items significant to the relationship between the person who places the token and the deceased.
Scholar Barbara Graham connects Cemetery Sunday traditions to the Decoration Day traditions of Appalachia and Liberia as many Irish and Scotch-Irish refugees and other immigrants from Ireland settled in Central and Southern Appalachia.
