Chrysanthemums by the Million: Marseille on the Eve of La Toussaint
By the last days of October, the flower stalls of Marseille have turned the colour of a paintbox: bronze, rust, white and deep violet, all of it potted chrysanthemums stacked in tiers. In the markets and outside the supermarkets, vendors sell them by the armful to families who will carry them to the city's cemeteries on 1 November. This is La Toussaint, All Saints' Day, a Catholic holy day and a public holiday across France — and in Marseille it is a day shaped as much by the flower trade as by the liturgy.
Take Part in the Chrysanthemum Run
The defining ritual of La Toussaint is simple and open to anyone: buying chrysanthemums and laying them on a grave. More than 25 million potted chrysanthemums are reportedly bought across France for the occasion, and the days before 1 November are when the city's florists, garden centres and supermarket forecourts fill with them.
- Buy your pot in the days running up to 1 November, not on the morning itself — the best stock moves early.
- Expect every colour: white, yellow, bronze, rust and violet, sold as potted plants rather than cut stems.
- Remember the local rule of etiquette: in France chrysanthemums are flowers for the graveside and are not given as gifts. Buy them for the cemetery, not for your host.
- Join the family visits that take place on 1 November itself. All Souls' Day falls on 2 November but is not a public holiday in France, so the cemetery visits cluster on the 1st.
Walk the Cemeteries When the City Turns Out
On 1 November, Marseillais head to the cemeteries to remember and honour their dead, and the cemeteries become the busiest public places in the city. Go as an observer, quietly, and you will see the tradition at full strength: family groups, fresh pots set against stone, and the chrysanthemum colours repeating row after row.
- Plan your visit for 1 November, when the custom is observed — not 2 November, which is a working day in France.
- Go earlier in the day if you want space and light; the crowds build as families make their rounds.
- Dress and behave as you would at any working cemetery: this is a family occasion, not a spectacle.
Why Chrysanthemums — and Where Halloween Fits
The flower at the centre of the day carries its own history. Accounts of the tradition vary: one story says chrysanthemums replaced the candles formerly lit on graves, a practice beginning in the mid-19th century; another links them to love and eternity in Catholic symbolism; a third ties the practice to the first anniversary of the end of World War I, when President Raymond Poincaré and the government asked the French to place flowers in cemeteries in memory of soldiers, with chrysanthemums chosen for their late flowering and resistance to frost.
Halloween, meanwhile, is celebrated in France but generally on a smaller scale than in the UK or US, though it is growing in popularity — you will see Halloween-themed chocolates and decorations widely on sale in the same shops that are selling chrysanthemums. If you are in Marseille for the end of October, you can watch the two seasons overlap on the same shelves.
Plan Around the Public Holiday
La Toussaint falls on 1 November and is a public holiday in France, which shapes how the city runs. Build your days around that rhythm: the flower-buying and cemetery visits belong to the run-up and to the 1st itself.
- Treat 1 November as the anchor date and keep the surrounding days flexible.
- Do your market and florist rounds in the days before, when the chrysanthemum displays are at their fullest.
- Expect a quieter city on the holiday itself as families gather privately and at the cemeteries.
Start with the calendar: 1 November 2026 is the date to hold. Book your travel so that you are in Marseille for the days of chrysanthemum buying that lead up to it, and for the morning of the holiday itself, when the cemeteries fill and the flower stalls finally empty. Everything else in the city arranges itself around that one day.