Dia de Todos los Santos

All Saint's Day is celebrated in Spain on November 1.

This is the day that many families go to the cemetery and bring flowers to their dear departed.

In our family, my grandmother (yaya) was about the only one that followed the tradition, every year she'd go to the cemetery with her niece (Matildeta) and basically spent the whole day there. Some years my mother would go along with some of her sisters. I remember  going a few times, and running around with my cousins..

The cemetery in Barcelona is pretty awesome. When I was a teenager as part of my school requirements, we had to do some volunteer work. My friend Titina and I chose to work at an orphanage which was very close to the cemetery in Montjuich. Some days we took a few kids to have lunch at the cemetery, it had nice areas with flowers and grass and it was quiet and peaceful. I vividly remember one time when a grave digger started digging on a spot next to where we were having a picnic. We gave him a sandwich and a drink, he was thankful, it's hard work to dig a grave.

The best thing about all Saint's Day was all the sweets typical of the holiday. At home my father would buy panellets of different kinds, my favorites where the pine nut ones.

Another one was buñuelos de viento, thanks Sandy for reminding me of those sweets. My grandmother  made them not only this day but for other holidays. They are very similar to cream puffs, only they are fried instead of baked, they could also be filled with cream or chocolate.

The other thing I remember doing on this day, is going to see the play "Don Juan Tenorio"by Jose Zorrilla, which was performed only on this day. Usually  I went with my mother and her sisters to see it. All the theaters in the city performed the play that night. It's the legend of Don Juan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Juan_Tenorio

Even now I can recite this part where Don Juan talks about himself and his adventures

Yo a las cabañas bajé,

yo a los palacios subí,

yo los claustros escalé

y en todas partes dejé

memoria amarga de mí.