4. Italy – Tutti i Morti
In Italy, All Saint’s Day is known as Tutti i Morti which translates literally to “all the dead.” Italy, long the home of Christendom and seat of Catholicism’s power, has not celebrated Halloween until just the last several decades. Instead, they celebrate All Saint’s Day. Many of the customs of All Saint’s Day or Tutti i Morti more closely resemble the American traditions of Memorial Day than Halloween.
Cemeteries are busy places in Italy in the week leading up to All Saint’s Day, with visitors cleaning graves, planting flowers, leaving wreathes and generally showing reverence and care for deceased loved ones. Italians typically attend mass on November 1st followed by formally visiting cemeteries to pay their respects to the dead.
The Italian Tutti i Morti only resembles American Halloween in one regard: the carving of Jack-o’-Lanterns. In Italian, specifically in Sardinia, they carve pumpkins with faces that are referred to as Concas de Mortu which literally translates to “heads of the dead.” Due to the strong influence of Catholicism on Italy’s history and traditions, there is no emphasis placed on the thinning of the veil between the dead and living, as there is no Christian dogma which would support such an event.