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I’m always trying to figure out how to make it easier for families to observe the Christian Year because we felt so overwhelmed when we first started that journey (which is why we wrote the book we wish we had then). I thought it might be helpful for our family to have resources compiled for the month ahead so that we can plan in advance which special saints days we want to observe and I hope having them all in one place is helpful to you, too!
And I pinned all of the following resources on a November Liturgical Living pinterest board for your convenience!
As always, remember not to get overwhelmed. You don’t have to observe every saints day! (We certainly don’t at our house.) The liturgical year is a gift. It shouldn’t feel like a burden!
I thought we could start a day early to include all three days of Hallowtide (Halloween, All Saints, and All Souls).
October 31: All Hallow’s Eve
Food for Thought:
- Hallowmas with Harry: What Harry Potter Taught Me About Death and the Communion of Saints: Carrots for Michaelmas
Faith and Little Ones:
- Finding Truth in Halloween: Look to Him and Be Radiant
- All Saints’ Halloween Party: A Knotted Life
And I love Kendra’s idea to easily transform Halloween costumes into All Saints’ costumes:
Awesome All Saints Costumes, And More Halloween/All Saints’ Costumes, Hallowtide, It’s How We Roll
November 1st: All Saints Day
Faith and Little Ones:
- All Saints Scavenger Hunt: Better Than Eden
- Celebrating All the Saints: In the Heart of My Home
- Is Your Favorite Saint a Gryffindor? Carrots for Michaelmas
Food for Thought:
- Octave of All Saints: A Monastery, a Home
Book Suggestions:
- Books About Saints in Our Mass Bag: Carrots for Michaelmas
November 2nd: All Souls Day
Celebrating Around the Table:
- Soul Cakes: Carrots for Michaelmas
Food for Thought:
- At the End Charlotte Dies: Catholic All Year
- Four Ways You Can Help the Souls in Purgatory: Living with Lady Philosophy
November 3rd: St. Martin de Porres:
Faith and Little Ones:
- Celebrating the Feast of St. Martin de Porres: Two Os Plus More
- St. Martin de Porres Glory Story CD: Holy Heroes
Book suggestions:
St. Martin de Porres: The Rose in the Desert by Gary Schmidt
November 4th: St. Charles Borromeo
Faith and Little Ones:
Coloring Page:
- St. Charles Borromeo: Catholic Playground
November 5th: St. Elizabeth
Faith and Little Ones:
- Read the story of the Visitation aloud from the Bible.
Celebrating Around the Table:
- St. Elizabeth Scones: In Endless Song
November 11th: St. Martin of Tours
Celebrating Around the Table:
- Make Stuffed Butternut Squash (served in halves like St. Martin’s cloak) recipe in Feast! Real Food, Reflections, and Simple Living for the Christian Year)
Faith and Little Ones:
- 7 Quick Ways to Celebrate Martinmas: Two Os Plus More
- Go through your winter clothes and find items to donate (as St. Martin shared his cloak with the beggar).
November 13th: St. Frances Cabrini
Celebrating Around the Table:
- Make Bolognese with Orecchietti: My Catholic Kitchen
Food for Thought:
- Paper Boats Filled with Violets: A Story of Mother Cabrini (Cari Donaldson for Catholic Exchange)
November 16th: St. Margaret of Scotland
Celebrating Around the Table:
- Learn the Grace After Meals prayer. Today with the Saints shared that St. Margaret encouraged this praying of this prayer. You can find a beautiful free printable of the Grace After Meals at Catholic All Year.
November 17th: St. Elizabeth of Hungary
Celebrating Around the Table:
- Hungarian Cinnamon Bread: Catholic Cuisine
Book Suggestion:
Roses in the Snow: A Tale of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary
November 20th: Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
Food for Thought:
- Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe: Catholic Culture
November 21st: The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Book Suggestion:
Mary the Mother of Jesus by Tomie dePaola
November 22nd: St. Cecilia
Faith and Little Ones:
- St. Cecelia Glory Story audio CD: Holy Heroes
November 24th: St. Andrew Dung-Lac and Companions
Celebrating Around the Table:
- Make Vietnamese Summer Rolls (recipe in our newest liturgical year ebook: More Feasts!)
November 25th: St. Catherine of Alexandria
Celebrating Around the Table:
- St. Catherine of Alexandria’s Miraculous Wheels: In Endless Song
November 27th: First Sunday of Advent
Faith and Little Ones:
- Light your first Advent candle.
- Begin the St. Andrew Christmas Novena and pray it 15 times from November 30th to Christmas Day. I made a printable you can download for free.
- 30 Jesse Tree Ornaments to Print and Color: Do Small Things with Great Love
Season of Advent
- Superstition, Trust, and Imperfect Prayer: Thoughts on the St. Andrew Christmas Novena: Amongst Lovely Things
- How We Celebrate Advent: Carrots for Michaelmas
- DIY Advent Countdown Craft: Two Os Plus More
- My Eco-Friendly DIY Advent Wreath: Becoming Peculiar
- Advent: Nourish Your Spiritual Life and Avoid the Holiday Burnout: Kitchen Stewardship
- 24 Day Printable Advent Calendar: Audrey Eclectic
- Choosing Peace This Advent When You’re a Mom to Littles: Fountains of Home
- A Gradual Advent: Franciscan Mom
- Free Advent Activities for Kids: Look to Him and Be Radiant
(You can find more resources for observing Advent in our liturgical year ebooks Feast! and More Feasts!)
Advent Music:
- Advent Playlist: Wonder: Carrots for Michaelmas
- Advent Playlist: Sleepers, Wake!: Carrots for Michaelmas
Book Suggestions:
- 27 Picture Books for Advent and Christmas: Carrots for Michaelmas (updated)
November 30th: St. Andrew
Celebrating Around the Table:
- Make a fish dinner to honor this fisherman disciple. (Our recipe for Tahini Tilapia is in Feast! Real Food, Reflections, and Simple Living for the Christian Year)
Do you have any special traditions for holy days in November? I’d love to hear about them in the comments!
(Some links in this post are affiliate links. Thank you for supporting Carrots!)
Here’s an oldie but goodie for All Souls’ Day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQE0qoVUwqE
Hi. A Hallowtide question, one convert to another. To the best of my knowledge, the Church recognizes various branches of Christianity as such, and we can expect Baptist or other Christian family members to find their way into purgatory and ultimately into heaven. My family, however, is Mormon, a group that believes itself to be Christian but is rejected as such by all other Christian organizations that care to take a position on the matter (and for good reasons, though I think there are a few counterarguments to be made). Do you know what the Church’s official position is on what happens to non-Christians after death? I’ve read a few different things, and we’ve lost a strong handful of relatives this year. It would be nice to know how to approach things this holiday.
There’s every reason for hope, and you should definitely pray for their souls with that hope. God is merciful.
From what I understand, basic Church teaching is that if a person serves God as best they can and live a moral life, then God will recognize that, even if they weren’t Baptized. They can still be saved, and the Church entrust their souls to God, who as I said before, is merciful.
So there’s every reason to remember them, pray for them, and celebrate their lives this all souls day.
Hi Emily!
I really loved this post about praying for souls by Cari Donaldson and I think it speaks to your question: http://catholicexchange.com/praying-souls-love
As Cari explains, the Church does not teach that everyone will go to Heaven; however, the Church also never claims that certain people are in Hell. They canonize saints that we can know are in Heaven, but never the opposite and that’s because there’s always room for hope. A friend of mine passed away a year ago during a time when he had abandoned and denied his faith. I have no way of knowing the state of his soul, but I pray for his soul often and will be doing so today. <3
Thank you! My ten-year-old son asked me later what happens to people who aren’t Catholic and I was glad to be able to give him an answer like this. He asked me if Dad would be mad if he converted. I always find, when a question is difficult, that the church has a resolution that is both kinder and more just than any of the apparent answers. I appreciate you sharing Cari’s article.
We pull taffy on Nov 25! It’s a French Canadian thing.
Well that sounds fun! Where does the tradition come from?
Our new Carmelite saint, Elizabeth of the Trinity will have her very first feastday on November 8th. She travelled extensively enjoying nature and social life in Europe before entering Carmel and her writings on the Indwelling of the Trinity in the soul are beautiful. I plan to enjoy a picnic by the woods and spend a little time in meditation in the cloister of my heart with the Trinity to celebrate her feastday. Y’all feel free to join me there.
Love that!
Making a dia de los muertos alter to remember loved ones who have passed is another great way to celebrate all souls day. Here in South Texas (I live south of San Antonio) some of the churches even have alters set aside for parishioners to put up pictures of their deceased loved ones, often with a novena for their souls prayed up to all souls day by the parish.
To do one at home, you just set up a picture of your loved one along with small objects that remind you of them, then remember to say a special prayer for them that day.
Great tradition! We had a really moving All Souls Requiem Mass with the catafalque (empty casket) with a book with the names of the dead we are praying for. It was pretty amazing.
Thank you for sharing my “Gradual Advent” article! This is a wonderful seasonal treasure chest here.
Great post, Barb!
Roses in the Snow is great!! The illustrator is the daughter of another beautiful Catholic blogger who has done the blog “Pondered in my Heart” for years! I think you’d love her!
Oh how cool!
Thanks so much for putting these posts together! I feel like I can get so much more prepared for the month when I see all the possible days to celebrate.
Oh good! So glad it’s helpful!
I just love your liturgical round ups! Thank you for organizing all of these good things in one place!
My pleasure, Katie!
I just love your monthly liturgical round ups! Thank you for organizing all of these good things in one place!
Thanks for the inspiration. The Works of Mercy club at my daughter’s school did a cemetery clean-up on November 1 and I’ve been saying the St. Gertrude prayer for the souls in purgatory. My second daughter is named for St. Charles Borromeo, so we are having northern Italian style white pizza (and chianti) to celebrate that great defender of the faith.
We still haven’t made it to the cemetery! We keep getting rained out! I’ll have to look up the St. Gertrude prayer. Hope you’re having a fun name day for Charlotte tonight! <3
Thanks for the information and links for St Frances Cabrini. I was looking for more about her because I found a second class relic of hers (ex indumentis) in my departed grandma’s jewelry case yesterday. It’s so odd because she has a well worn Miraculous Medal in there as well, but she was never Catholic. Making the meal will be a nice way to help my non Catholic husband enjoy and celebrate her feast day. Thanks again for the wonderful links, I’m sure I’ll be back for more!