Opening to Chapter VIII, Once on Esplanade by Frances Parkinson Keyes.
The social season in New Orleans did not begin until the opening of the opera, early in November. The solemn celebration of All Saints came before that and was always observed with great ceremny, as it still is.
The Villeres followed the Orleanian custom of visiting the cemetery on that day, taking flowers to decorate the graves of their dead, and remaining to pray. The family lot, in the old St. Lois Cemetery, was enclosed by an ornamental iron grille and contained three large brick tombs, which had been built by the Governor, whose descendants were all buried there.