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A Walk Through the Graveyard

Observing the Polish Traditions of All Saints’ Day.

This year on Halloween, I spent the afternoon and night walking through Polish cemeteries. Not looking for ghost or goblins or even a treat. Rather, I was out to observe and photograph the Polish traditions of All Saints’ Day. That day falls on November 1st. The night before, of course, is Halloween, which is a contraction from the term “All Hallows Eve”. The connection between the two ends there. Halloween is a festive time to remember. All Saints’ Day is a time of solemn remembrance. A time in Poland when families travel to the gravesites of their relatives and friend to honor connections to the past. Their observation of All Saints’ Day turns the black night into a soft glowing galaxy of lights stretching into distant reaches graveyard.

In America, Halloween is a time for children and adults to pretend they are something else. Parties, trick-or treating and ghost stories are the order of the day. In Poland, it is different. Outside the cemetery, you will see vendors selling decorative votive candles (known in Polish as znicze) and flowers such as chrysanthemums. They and the nearby flower shops do a brisk business. The flowers of all colors line the sidewalks leading to the gates. A festive scene of…