| Totensonntag | |
|---|---|
 A congregation of the United States–based denomination Evangelical and Reformed Church observing Totensonntag by lighting votive candles in memory of the faithful departed | |
| Also called | Ewigkeitssonntag Totenfest |
| Observed by | Lutherans and Reformed in Germany |
| Significance | Remembrance of the Faithful Departed |
| Observances | church services, praying for the dead, lighting votive candles, visiting cemeteries and graveyards[1] |
| Date | First Advent Sunday – 7 days |
| Related to | Allhallowtide, Advent |
Totensonntag (German: [ˈtoːtn̩zɔntaːk] , 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.
- ^ Black, Monica (10 May 2010). Death in Berlin: From Weimar to Divided Germany. Cambridge University Press. p. 34. ISBN 9780521118514.
Totensonntag was an occasion for remembering and praying for the dead and was celebrated by attending church services and making cemetery pilgrimages.