November: The Return of Silence

André • October 31, 2025

Alpine All Souls Traditions: The Underworld Awakens

When the daylight retreats - the underworld opens up. And with it the Souls of the Ancestors.

As so often, the senses in the Alps are often sharper than in many other cultural and natural settings.

And this is also true for feeling the change of seasons. And within the seasons, this is evident as well. While September still carries with it the warmth of summer, and is also a month of festivities, often dealing with thankfulness for a ripe harvest, October brings unusual colours, paired with all the gold, orange and caramel-brown colours of the alpine forests. You feel that change is going on, that nature, people, everything is preparing for another state of life and of mind.

And then November enters. While in this month too we can enjoy some dry, crisp, sun-loaded days, as in this year for instance, the inherent characteristic is different: It feels as if some caring hand is slowly turning out the lights. The day starts late, and dawn arrives early. Nights get cold, and winter knocks on. The spirits of live and light seem to have gone…somewhere else, and some other spirits are entering the scene:

All Souls, Alpine Spirits & the Art of Rememberance

When life moves indoors, something else follows.

Our own journey also retreats to the inner self. The warm season is when we embrace life, go to festivals, hang out in sometimes larger groups, but all this seems far away, and - when you walk through a foggy, silent, chilly but on the same hand eternal landscape in the Alps – somewhat irrelevant for that moment.

The mind turns to the bigger, more eternal questions. What do we seek in life? What should I dedicate this life to? Looking at snow-covered mountains in the distance, eternity seems to be more prevalent than the now. As people in the Alps like to say:

Mountains are silent Masters.

What makes the Alps so unique from a cultural perspective is this: This region was, as the other parts of central Europe, settled by Germanic and Celtic people. We know not everything, but quite a bit about their cultures, cults and rites. Many traditions from old Germanic rites for instance are still vivid in Central European Christmas traditions. However, with the adaption of Christianity, many of these traditions either vanished or became assimilated.

In the Alps however, this process of assimilation and christianisation of traditions and rites took much longer, and was also accomplished to a much lesser degree. Secluded Alpine valleys just were much more difficult to control than cities.

Hence, more of these old traditions survived, and also those that have been assimilated still seem to carry more of their old untamed heathen ‘wildness’.

And the days of All Saints and All Souls that are celebrated on November 01 and 02 make no difference:

People believed that when days got shorter and nights longer, the worlds of the living and those of the dead (of the Souls) also came into ever closer contact. You would see more magic figures of the cold and the dark underworld, and the Spirits and the Souls of the ancestors were visiting their former villages and homes.

In most Alpine areas, they were welcomed with food, water drinks. In the Paznaun valley in Tyroll for instance, the farmers wife will still prepare some dumplings for the Spirits of the Ancestors, and put them outside below the window.

November Escapes for Inner Peace

And this is why the late fall, and the early winter are in fact literally fantastic times to visit the Alps, especially for those who seek calmness and serenity. The wonderful sceneries that switch between autumn and winter and back on a daily basis help you to let go, and to hear your inner voices.

We recommend to visit the calmer valleys. You will see few other people, let alone tourists. Most mountain cable cars have stopped their service. Summer is over, winter has not yet started.

It is the time not of the party- or adventure seeker, but of those who want to get into contact with the Souls and Spirits – their own, of their loved ones, of their ancestors. It is the time of memories and reflection.

Not all hotels will have open during November, but some do. We can recommend a few places that will let you calm down and re-energize. Concentrate on the quite things.

A gentle walk through lone valleys and forests, with a view of the mountains covered in first snow. Enjoying some deer, as it is hunting season in the Alps. Relax in the Spa areas of the Alps best hotels with fewer guests around – and often more moderate prices.