All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day in Belgium and France
While Americans celebrate the Halloween on October 31st, most French and Belgians celebrate All Saints' Day on November 1st and All Souls' Day on November 2nd.
Both holidays are of the Catholic faith and observed with some specific celebrations across both countries. However, All Saints Day only is a public holiday; which means that the day is off for most of us.
What is All Saints' Day - AKA "La Toussaint"
All Saints' Day is a day which honors all the saints recognized by the Roman Catholic Church. Originally celebrated right after Easter, it was later established during the month of May during the 7th century.
This special day takes place on November 1st since the 8th century and became a worldwide celebration during the 9th century.
All Saints' Day is also the day the French Church was nationalized in the late 18th century.
What is All Souls' Day - AKA "Le Jour des morts"
All Souls' Day is supposed to relieve the soul of the deaths who are in Purgatory. It is also the day we honor those of our families who died, whether long ago or recently by cleaning up our loved ones' tombs, bring fresh flowers and attend masses to honor their souls. However, and because only All Saints' Day is a public holiday, most of us go to cemeteries on November 1st.
Picture to the right, by Eric Pouhier: 
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 Generic License.
Both All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day are the starting point of the "All Saints' Day" week holidays; which last for one week in Belgium and two weeks in France and have our kids off of school. Those first holidays of the school year are also an opportunity for us to leave for a short holiday break.
All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day celebrations in our areas
The most common celebrations of All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day in our areas consist into chrysanthemums; which are the most popular symbols of these occasions and placed on the tombstones of our beloved ones. Churches are decorated with flowers and candles and special masses are observed.
Depending on the region we are located, the celebrations are more or less important than in the past, decorations may also vary, like in Southern France where cemeteries are decorated with lanterns made out of stone and other areas where processions take place.
We can also see most churches decorated with pieces of black cloth on All Souls' Day.
All Saints' and All Souls' Days Tourism?
I'm not really sure that we appreciate cemetery tourism but, if you're interested in the discovery of Belgians and French cemeteries, I'd suggest to pay a visit to the Brussels cemetery - and many others in big Belgian cities - where you will find some really interesting concessions in an architectural point of view, as, in the past, many of our inhabitants used to build mausoleums.
For American tourists, I'd suggest a visit to the sections paying tribute to their soldiers fallen in fight during WWI and WWII is imperative. Personally, I love to see those rows of small white crosses which remind me that, without these brave persons, I wouldn't probably have the chance to live in a democracy.
You might also want to pay a visit to the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris, for example, where you will find the tombs of many artists, poets, authors, politics and alike. Other cemeteries to visit in France are the one of Batignolles and Cannes.
And if you're interested in Belgian and French History, you're surely will want to visit our Basilicas; the ones where our kings and queens were buried. Among those are the Royal Crypt in Notre-Dame Church located in Laeken (Brussels), Saint-Denis Basilica; which is the main Kings of France's necropolis, Saint-Remi Basilica in Reims; where some kings of France were buried.
Picture to the right by Michel Wal: 
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Tips to Travel Belgium and France on November 1st
When you visit our countries on All Saints' Day, take note that our public transport services don't work as usual. Indeed, because All Saints' Day is a public holiday, transports hours are delayed and, while some towns still provide you with bus, tramway and subway, there aren't as much as during working days and in some towns, there aren't in any way. So, you might end up having to take cabs instead of public transports.
