Mumbai: Portuguese Church Asks Parishioners To Avoid Flowers And Candles On All Souls' Day 2024

Mumbai: On November 2, Christians will observe All Souls’ Day by lighting candles and creating floral decorations around the graves of their dearly departed. However, one church in Mumbai, Our Lady of Salvation Church, also called the Portuguese Church in Dadar, has asked its members to avoid the flowers and candles. The parishioners have been asked to bring saplings of trees and plants that can be planted in the cemetery or taken back home.

The idea came from the church’s ‘Salvation Green Cell’ in 2022 to promote environmentally cleaner practices among church members. The church is encouraging shroud burials and has set up a solar power generation system that now meets most of their electricity needs, cutting down on fossil fuels and wood for coffins. For similar reasons, the church has asked members to avoid lighting candles at the graves.

The plan to replace flower decorations with saplings and trees is being tested for the first time, said Alfred Nogueira, church trustee. “Priests go to bless all graves. People decorate the graves with flowers. The next day, the flowers have to be thrown away. This time we thought of plants that could be blessed and taken home as a memory,” said Nogueira.

Not everyone is enthused by the idea. A church member, Judith Montero, said, “As a parishioner, I think it is a good initiative, but I would like to put flowers on my mother's grave as I have done for 35 years. My father passed away recently. I will decorate it (the graves) my way.”

Gleason Baretto from Kurla said his East Indian community has followed floral bouquets and grave decoration on All Souls Day for centuries. “We have always made it clear to the church hierarchy that Indigenous people’s religious traditions should not be changed and this issue has religious sentiments attached,” said Baretto.

Baretto suggested that the Dadar church could have a separate plantation drive. “Also some community members are florists who depend on All Souls Day as one of its big days for business. If this is implemented it will affect their daily bread.”

Anticipating resistance to the new idea, Andrews Williams, a member of the Portuguese Church, created a short podcast with a debate on tradition and environment. Perhaps by listening to this short four-minute podcast, we can make the right decision for ourselves, said Nogueira.