All Saints Day

Today is a very important day in Poland.  While kids across the UK are just coming down from their Halloween induced sugar highs, the Poles will be spending the day visiting their relatives graves.  Today is All Saints Day, this is referred to as a national holiday but there is no holiday spirit in the air, everything is closed and tonight the bars were empty.  What's important here is people paying their respects to the dead.  The cemeteries are full of flowers and even more candles than normal, not a single grave is forgotten.  

The photo really doesn't do it justice.  It's difficult to explain how I feel having just walked around the cemetery, seeing so many candles, bunches of flowers, so much care taken over every detail, so much love, so much sorrow.  One grave in particular stood out, a young man only 22, his grave covered with flowers and surrounded by over 80 candles, he died in July.  I feel sad thinking about the losses of so many people and their effort to do something for their loved ones even now.  I also feel elated, overwhelmed, excited; it was an incredible sight, emotional and traditional.  

I couldn't recommend strongly enough to anyone visiting Poland at this time of year to come and take a walk through a cemetery.