The
children can be taught to revere the dead by accompanying them to the cemetery.
This can indeed turn out to be a family outing at a time when the Nature seems
to shed her old garb and make preparations to adorn herself anew.
Ideally
you can visit the graves of your own deceased family members. It would be a good
time to tell the younger members of your family stories about their great-grandparents,
grandparents, uncles and aunts - how they have influenced your life and that
of your family's.
Digress from your routine for once
on All Souls Day. Retire to bed late and take out the old family albums instead.
Go through them and revive some old and happy memories of the family members who
are not amongst you anymore and share them with your children.
You
can also pay a visit to a cathedral, if you have one near your house, along with
your family. Many cathedrals in Europe have bishops, saints and even ordinary
faithful buried in them. The Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis has tombs of bishops
inside them.
Remember to pray for your deceased relatives
in your regular bed- time prayers.
You can invite the guests for a feast
and ask them to bring photos or symbols of the dead and build an altar together.
Set
a table against a wall. Arrange empty boxes or books on the table to create nine
different levels and cover them with a cloth. The levels represent the none phases
through which the souls have to traverse in order to reach paradise.
Embellish
the table with flowers, wreaths, garlands incense sticks and mementos of the persons
for whom the altar has been created.
Place photos
of the dead on the altar, along with the food or drinks they enjoyed when alive.
Don't forget to keep the candles burning.