All Souls' Day 2026 in the Netherlands: candle-lit cemeteries and concerts

All Souls' Day (Allerzielen) 2026 is on Monday 2 November, the day after All Saints' Day (Allerheiligen) on Sunday 1 November, and neither is a public holiday in the Netherlands. Over that weekend cemeteries, churches and concert halls hold candle-lit evenings, services and concerts to remember the dead. Many of these evenings are free and need no ticket, such as the lights on the big pond in Amsterdam's Vondelpark on Monday 2 November from 18:30 to 20:30.

Checked 30 October 2026. Eindhoven, Nijmegen, Maastricht and Zevenaar had not published a 2026 cemetery evening on an official page; Castricum's evening at Onderlangs (Monday 2 November, 17:00–21:00) appears only on the tourist site Visit Castricum and in the local paper, and Oostzaan's only in the local paper.

When is All Souls' Day 2026?

All Souls' Day 2026 is on Monday 2 November. It always falls on 2 November, so in 2027 it is on Tuesday 2 November 2027. All Saints' Day comes the day before, on Sunday 1 November 2026. Because 1 November is a Sunday this year, the Old Catholic Church notes that many parishes mark both days together in the Sunday service.

Neither day is on the government's list of official holidays, so shops, offices and schools keep their usual hours on Monday 2 November. That is why many evenings are on the Sunday, or on Monday after work.

What is All Souls' Day?

All Souls' Day (Allerzielen), on 2 November, is the day on which the dead are remembered, by name and at their graves. According to the Dutch Centre for Intangible Heritage, families visit, clean and decorate the graves of their relatives on or around 2 November, usually with white flowers and small lights. The custom is Catholic in origin and is thought to have begun at the Benedictine abbey of Cluny in France at the end of the tenth century; in the Netherlands it moved to the cemetery in the nineteenth century.

Since the 1990s general and Protestant cemeteries have also held their own evenings, often with music, poems and the reading of names. The newest form is an evening of light, open to everyone whatever they believe: candles along the paths, a moment of silence and a hot drink afterwards.

Mexico's Day of the Dead, Día de los Muertos, falls on the same days, 1 and 2 November, with altars, marigolds, music and food; Evenitto lists this year's Día de los Muertos celebrations in the Netherlands.

What is the difference between All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day?

All Saints' Day (Allerheiligen, 1 November) honours all saints, known and unknown, whether or not they were officially canonised, while All Souls' Day (Allerzielen, 2 November) remembers all the faithful departed, according to the Roman Catholic Church in the Netherlands. The visits to family graves, the cemetery evenings and the reading of names belong to All Souls' Day. Many parishes this year combine the two in the service of Sunday 1 November.

All Souls' Day 2026: cemetery evenings and remembrance at a glance

These cemeteries, churches and towns hold an All Souls' gathering between Sunday 1 and Saturday 7 November 2026, in order of date, with the town first.

None of these organisers sells tickets. Tilburg, the Vondelpark, Monnickendam and Apeldoorn say entry is free; Zorgvlied (full) and St. Laurentius ask you to register. Each organiser's page has the full programme.

All Souls' Day in Amsterdam: Vondelpark, Zorgvlied and De Nieuwe Ooster

Allerzielen in het Vondelpark fills the big pond with small lit boats on Monday 2 November 2026.

The pond lies in the middle of the park, between the Blauwe Theehuis and the Melkhuis; from the Van Eeghenstraat entrance you look straight onto it, and from the main entrance on the Stadhouderskade it is about five minutes' walk, keeping left. You collect a boat at the tent and set it on the water when you are ready. There is no fixed programme, only quiet music, and in the afternoon children's drawings and poems about missing someone stand around the pond.

The boats are limited, so Allerzielen in het Vondelpark asks families to share one, and it announces on its site and Facebook page if a storm cancels the evening. The site gives the date as 2 November without a year.

On Sunday 1 November 2026 the municipal cemeteries De Nieuwe Ooster and De Nieuwe Noorder hold the Tuin voor Alle Zielen. You plant a flower bulb for someone you miss, and it flowers in the garden in spring. Because of building work, cars can reach De Nieuwe Noorder by only one car route until the end of 2026; by bike it is easy to reach from the IJdoornlaan.

RK Begraafplaats Buitenveldert has Amsterdam's longest programme on Sunday 1 November 2026:

• 13:30: the Close2Gospel choir in the chapel
• 14:30: a talk on mourning and reverence
• 15:30: the Eucharist, also livestreamed
• around 16:45: the blessing of the graves
• 17:00: the names of the past year, with a candle for everyone
• 17:45–19:30: a "poetry counter" where Ellen Deckwitz reads a poem of comfort

Gedenkpark Zorgvlied is full for "Samen rond lichtjes en namen"; its page explains how to ask for the livestream by email. Sint Barbara on the Spaarndammerdijk says its gathering on Tuesday 3 November is not only for believers.

All Souls' Day in Rotterdam and The Hague

In Rotterdam, St. Laurentius holds a prayer service and a remembrance service on Monday 2 November 2026. Afterwards a grave, burial mound or columbarium niche can be blessed. The online form is closed, so phone 010 413 63 08 to sign up.

The Alexanderkerk in Ommoord lays a path of lights from the church to the church hall on Monday 2 November, with quiet music and coffee inside.

At Vredehof in Ridderkerk on Monday 2 November the municipality invites everyone, "young or old, religious or not", and asks you to come on foot or by bike.

Rotterdam's municipal cemeteries hold their free Lichtjesmomenten later, without booking, according to the municipality of Rotterdam's cemetery page:

• Hofwijk: Friday 6 November, 18:30–20:30
• Rozenburg: Wednesday 11 November, 17:00–19:30
• Zuiderbegraafplaats: Friday 27 November, 17:00–19:00
• Crooswijk: Friday 11 December, 16:30–18:30

In The Hague, poets read at Oud Eik en Duinen on Sunday 1 November 2026. The poets bring the stories of unknown people buried there into the light. On Monday 2 November the cemeteries St. Petrus Banden and St. Barbara and Crematorium PAX livestream their services.

All Souls' Day in Utrecht, Leiden and the Bulb Region

The Hooglandse Kerk in Leiden spreads All Souls' Day 2026 over a week, from Saturday 31 October to Sunday 8 November. The week opens with a lecture on Saturday at 16:00. On 1, 4 and 7 November the Hooglandse Kamer is open from 14:00 to 20:00 for candles, writing and silence, and on Sunday 8 November at 17:00 All Souls' vespers with Michael Haydn's Requiem close the week.

In Utrecht, Cardinal Eijk celebrates the November monthly mass at St. Barbara cemetery as an All Souls' mass on Monday 2 November 2026 at 10:00.

In Utrecht, the Old Catholic Gertrudiskathedraal holds its All Saints' service with the remembrance of the dead on Sunday 1 November at 10:00 and stays open from 13:00 to 16:00 to light a candle, according to the Old Catholic Church. Utrecht's municipal cemeteries hold their lights evening on Sunday 13 December.

In Voorhout, the cemeteries by the two churches put a light on every grave on Monday 2 November, and the Protestant church is open from 19:00 to 21:00.

All Souls' Day in Groningen, Friesland and the east

Groningen lights Selwerderhof cemetery on Monday 2 November 2026, with music in the aula and the tea house and readings by the city poet. The municipality asks you to bring a torch and to come on foot or by bike. The Nieuwe Kerk is open that day from 10:00 to 20:00 to light a candle (on Evenitto).

In Leeuwarden, the Grote Kerk is open on Monday 2 November 2026 from 15:00 to 18:00 to write a name and light a candle. At the free concert at 19:30 the funeral choir Cygne sings and the names are read aloud.

In Hengelo, the walk with candles to the Calvarieberg at Deurningerstraat starts at the cemetery entrance on Sunday 1 November.

Apeldoorn's Licht op Herinnering is always on the first Wednesday of November, this year Wednesday 4 November, on the Soerenseweg cemetery. The organisers ask you to come by bike or public transport, as parking is limited.

All Souls' Day in Brabant

The Afscheidspark in Tilburg holds a free lights evening on Monday 2 November 2026, with fire baskets, hot drinks and live music. During the evening a ritual sends off the letters collected in its "Hemelpost" (heaven mail) box; you don't need to register.

At Urnenpark Zoomstede in Bergen op Zoom, the memorial meeting on Sunday 1 November is followed by a route through the urn park with artists and musicians.

In 's-Hertogenbosch, Zielen in Gedachten gathers at Begraafplaats Orthen on Saturday 7 November from 18:00 to 20:00; you can send in a name in advance on zieleningedachten.nl.

Kerkhof Bavel lists a free lights evening at the Brigida churchyard on Monday 2 November at 18:00.

All Souls' concerts 2026

The Netherlands Bach Society (Nederlandse Bachvereniging) tours its All Souls' 2026 programme "Het geluid van de stilte" (The sound of silence) until Monday 2 November, with early Baroque music by Bach's predecessors and John Cage's silent piece 4'33".

Its tour page lists the last three dates: Heerlen on Saturday 31 October, Utrecht on Sunday 1 November and Arnhem on Monday 2 November. The tour page marks its dates "sold out" or "last tickets", so check the venue first. Choirs and orchestras elsewhere sing a requiem the same weekend, among them Mozart's Requiem in Naarden and Utrecht; more concerts are in Evenitto's classical music guide.

The Purmerend concert, in the Taborkerk, is not a church service: the organisers read the names of the dead and light a candle for each, between music, songs and poems, for anyone from Purmerend and the area.

Church services and open churches on 2 November

Catholic and Old Catholic parishes remember their dead in the services of Sunday 1 November and the evening of Monday 2 November; your own parish's website lists the times. The Old Catholic Church keeps its churches in Hilversum (16:00–21:00, with a gathering at 19:30) and Alkmaar (18:30–20:30) open on Monday 2 November for anyone who wants to light a candle or sit in silence. That evening it holds services at the Paradijskerk in Rotterdam and in IJmuiden at 19:30, in Delft at 20:00, and a requiem mass in Amsterdam at 18:15.

Other gatherings on Evenitto:

• Allerzielen – commemoration of refugees who died, by Doopsgezind Amsterdam in the Mozes en Aäronkerk, Waterlooplein, Sunday 1 November at 15:00
• Who are you lighting a candle for?, Noorderkerk, The Hague, Monday 2 November at 19:30
• All Saints' procession and All Souls' chants, a medieval re-enactment in the open-air museum Archeon, Alphen aan den Rijn, Sunday 1 November at 12:00 (park ticket)

The Dance of Death in Monnickendam

The All Souls' procession in Monnickendam, a Dance of Death through the old town, sets off at 20:30 on Monday 2 November 2026 from the Doopsgezinde Vermaning on the Beestenmarkt. Death leads a line of dancers in medieval costume, among them a king, a pope and a fisherman, with torches, drums, flutes and bagpipes. The Middeleeuws Genootschap Monnickendam, which holds it for the 18th time, says it is a commemoration, not a show: the procession stops in silence at every house where someone died in the past year.

The route runs through the centre and returns to the Vermaning around 21:15, where everyone is invited to a short reflection and a toast to life. Watching is free; the organiser asks for a voluntary contribution.

Do Protestant churches mark All Souls' Day?

Many Protestant churches remember their dead on another day: Eeuwigheidszondag, the last Sunday of the church year, just before Advent, which in 2026 is Sunday 22 November. The Protestant Church in the Netherlands adds that some congregations remember their dead on All Souls' Day, 2 November, instead. Many of the cemetery evenings in this guide are run by a municipality, a cemetery or a foundation rather than a church.

What happens at a cemetery evening of lights?

At a cemetery evening of lights you walk in, light a candle at a grave or at a shared memorial spot, and stay as long as you like. Most of the evening gatherings in the table above start between 17:30 and 19:00 and last two to three hours. Many add music, a poem or the reading of names, and coffee, tea or hot chocolate.

• Candles: Westerveld and Tilburg hand out a candle; Buitenveldert sells candles and flowers, and St. Laurentius sells chrysanthemums for €5.50.
• Names: where names are read out, the organiser usually asks you to send them in advance.
• A letter to the dead: Tilburg collects letters in its "Hemelpost" box and sends them off in a ritual during the evening.
• Getting there: Groningen, Ridderkerk and Apeldoorn ask you to come on foot, by bike or by public transport.

In December several cemeteries hold a second evening of lights, and Wereldlichtjesdag follows on Sunday 13 December; see Lichtjesavond in December 2026.

Quick answers

When is All Souls' Day 2026? Monday 2 November 2026. All Saints' Day is Sunday 1 November 2026.

Is All Souls' Day a public holiday in the Netherlands? No. Neither All Saints' Day nor All Souls' Day is on the list of official holidays, so shops and schools are open.

Is All Souls' Day always on 2 November? Yes. In 2027 it falls on Tuesday 2 November 2027.

Where can I go on All Souls' Day in Amsterdam? Allerzielen in het Vondelpark, the lights on the pond, on Monday 2 November from 18:30 to 20:30, and on Sunday 1 November the Tuin voor Alle Zielen at De Nieuwe Ooster and De Nieuwe Noorder and the programme at Buitenveldert.

Do I need a ticket for a lights evening? Usually not. Tilburg and Hengelo say you don't need to register, and the Vondelpark and Apeldoorn evenings are free; Zorgvlied is full and St. Laurentius asks you to register by phone.

Can I go if I am not religious? Yes. Ridderkerk invites everyone, "religious or not", and Sint Barbara in Amsterdam says its gathering is not only for believers.

What is the difference between All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day? All Saints' Day (1 November) honours all saints; All Souls' Day (2 November) remembers all the dead.

The next November tradition is Sint Maarten on Wednesday 11 November: the lantern walks and their times are in Sint Maarten 2026.

Cover photo: white flowers laid on a Nassau family grave in the Grote Kerk in Breda for All Souls' Day 2018, by the Niervaertgilde, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.