Celebrating Grieving and Life at All Souls Night

DULUTH, Minn. – Just two days after Day of the Dead, All Souls Night celebrated both mourning and life at the Duluth Depot.

“At this time of year, they say the veil is thin and that we can communicate words easily with our loved ones,” said Mary Plaster, the founder of All Souls Night. “But sixteen years ago, you were supposed to just really not show a lot of emotions if you were feeling a lot of grief. You got to keep it inside.”

The start of the night kept things inside. Acrobatic performances from the Northern Lights Aerial Studio entertained those who attended. Oral presentations of the ‘Names of our Beloved’ started the communal grieving process, with many skeleton faces looming in the crowd.

“Puppets and masks are associated with Halloween. But Day of the Dead, whenever Celtic or the Mexican version, is about recognizing the ancestors and that’s what I wanted to focus on,” said Plaster. “The community piece of it where we eat together, we dance together, we make music together, and reimagine the future together.”

Guests were invited to write down ‘rotten ideas’ and tossed them into a coffin, which moved the celebrations outside. “And now we will listen to the bagpipes and we’re going to walk and follow this coffin out the door,” directed Jillian Forte, a key speaker throughout the night.

As people joined hand-in-hand underneath the Duluth Public Library, drum beats, projections, and fire fueled the crowd in their funeral march. But as instruments started to sound staggered, ‘rotten ideas’ were shouted and burnt. “Are we ready? Yeah! Here we are!” started Forte. “War! Bad Idea! Burn it!”

Succeeding, the Spin Collective danced fiery along to the beat of drums. All meanwhile bigger props were in the back works. 

Duluth All Souls Night started in 2008, when Plaster was tasked with a puppet and mask display at the Duluth Art Institute. Plaster’s show was set for Nov. 1 of 2008. 

“I’ve been involved with larger-than-life puppets for a really long time, probably 20 years,” said Plaster. “I had experienced Day of the Dead in Mexico and I was like, this feels better. Taking some time to grieve, but mostly remembering what it is that we loved about the person.”

Now sixteen years later, All Souls Night is known for parading with a 17-foot-tall skeleton named Max. With every year, being at a different location.

“We don’t want to have an event that’s just about grief,” said Plaster. “We want to take what we don’t like that’s happening and transform it into a better future for the future beings of the planet.”

The night closed with live music from the local art-pop music group Sadkin. All Souls Night is already planned for Sat., Nov. 2, 2024.