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Totensonntag

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Totensonntag (, Sunday of the Dead), also called Ewigkeitssonntag (Eternity Sunday) or Totenfest, is a Protestant religious holiday in Germany and Switzerland, commemorating the faithful departed. It falls on the last Sunday of the liturgical year in the Protestant Church in Germany and the Protestant Church in the Netherlands.

Key facts

Holiday.holiday_name
Totensonntag
Holiday.image
File:Totenfest at St. Luke's UCC.jpg
Holiday.caption
A congregation of the United States–based denomination Evangelical and Reformed Church observing Totensonntag by lighting votive candles in memory of the faithful departed
Holiday.nickname
EwigkeitssonntagTotenfest
Holiday.observedby
Lutherans and Reformed in Germany
Holiday.significance
Remembrance of the Faithful Departed
Holiday.duration
1 day
Holiday.observances
church services, praying for the dead, lighting votive candles, visiting cemeteries and graveyards
Holiday.relatedto
Allhallowtide, Advent

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Wikidata facts

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Totenfest at St. Luke's UCC.jpg
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native label
Totensonntag
Commons category
Totensonntag
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Article

6 sections
Contents
  • History
  • Special protection
  • Sunday in ecumenism
  • See also
  • References
  • Further reading

Totensonntag (, Sunday of the Dead), also called Ewigkeitssonntag (Eternity Sunday) or Totenfest, is a Protestant religious holiday in Germany and Switzerland, commemorating the faithful departed. It falls on the last Sunday of the liturgical year in the Protestant Church in Germany and the Protestant Church in the Netherlands.

== History == With development of the liturgical year in the Middle Ages, readings on the last things were connected with the last Sundays of the liturgal year. While on the antepenultimate Sunday the focus is on death, the penultimate Sunday has the topic Last Judgment and the last Eternal Life. Traditionally, the last Sunday of the liturgical year deals in a special way with the expectation of Judgment Day. The Gospel is that of Parable of the Ten Virgins.

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