WINTER2020 Italian American Digest PAGE 10
CLUB NEWS
Members of Louisiana ISDA Lodges Honor Ancestors on All
Souls Day
By Charles Marsala
Blessing of the graves for All Saints ' Day at St . Matthew Cemetery in Monroe , La .
All Souls ' Day is also known as the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed and the Day of the Dead . It is a day of prayer and remembrance for the souls of those who have died . It is a celebration full of traditional food and family . The newly formed ISDA St . Rosalie Lodge in Monroe Louisiana consists of members who have been attending the blessing of the graves at St . Matthew ’ s Catholic Cemetery since the 1930s .
In New Orleans on All Saints Day , the Contessa Entellina Society celebrates the Sicilian Festival of Dead , Festa dei morti , at the society mausoleum in the Italian / Sicilian section of the Metairie Cemetery . A dozen mausoleums were erected in the cemetery during the 1890s by the immigrants of different metropolitan area of Sicily .
In New Orleans the blessing was performed by Father Damjan Zavlotskji , who is becoming a member of the ISDA St . Expedite Lodge in Southern Louisiana .