Allerheiligen is celebrated on 1st November each year. It is a public holiday in a number of western Bundesländer, and has been celebrated in the Roman Catholic Church since the 9th Century.

The next day is Allerseelen (2nd November), and it is on these days that people visit and tend to the graves of their deceased relatives.

It is not a public holiday in Hessen and as such many people from the neighbouring Bundesländer come here to go shopping!

To hear a simple explanation and short discussion in German, listen to the podcast:

(Press the “play” button to listen to the podcast)

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 7th, 2007 at 1:17 am and is filed under German Words Explained, Podcasts, Public holidays. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.