November 2 -- the Feast of All Souls

My father and grandfather shipped for the US Merchant Marine, Gramps on Liberty ships (at left)

Again, this is a feast of at least a dozen individual saints, but in 998 Abbot Odilo of Cluny instituted the practice of a Mass on this day for the comfort and salvation of the souls of those departed. In calling to mind my antecedents (including Uncle Bob, who taught me that word) and the other deceased friends, more than a dozen come quickly to mind. At the risk of blurring my western tradition with some east Asian rituals, I might get into school early enough tomorrow to light some incense in their memory. Hey, it's not really ancestor worship because only two of them are my ancestors.  They are, however, the two I'm honoring with the stamps above.  There's a great four-stamp set honoring postal workers, but I couldn't get an image of it to copy well.