For years I thought that All Souls' Day honored all souls--everyone living, everyone dead. To get some background or interesting tidbits to put in today's journal entry, I went googling and learned the following:

All Souls' Day honors those of the faithful departed (i.e. Roman Catholic) who are now, presumably, in heaven. The rest, I guess, are in purgatory, suffering to be cleansed of their sins, or in hell, beyond redemption.

Which leads me to remember my horror at learning, when I was young, that sinners and unbelievers will be cast into a lake of fire and spend eternity in constant torment and pain.

I could not accept any religion that views God as vengeful, punishing, murderer, and for many years I would not set foot in a church or temple where that was declared a necessary tenet of faith, part of the required belief set.

So I still prefer to think of All Souls' Day as a day to honor everyone, living or dead, struggling each along his or her path, seeking answers, loving one another, doing the best s/he can.