Stumbling Upon New Festivals - Part 3

I missed Halloween!

How lame is that? I really wanted to recreate some of the magic of H-ween costumes passed such as skimpy-short 70's tennis star or the infamous Dr. Broom. I suppose that I'll have to recreate some of that magic next year instead. Luckily though, I came upon a different tradition here in Poland, one that I've never experienced.

Nov. 1st in Poland is "Dzien Zmarlych" which literally means Day of the Dead. But it bears little resemblance to the candy/horror fest from America, or to the 1985 movie of the same name. Instead, it's can be described as a day of remembrance (not like Remembrance Day, now you're just getting mixed up). This is a day to remember those that have passed on, and to give them respect.

What happens is that (most) people go to the cemeteries where their loved ones are buried and light a candle, or some candles or places flowers and wreaths on their graves. Now, if you can imagine, a country that boasts an extremely high religious population will have thousands upon thousands of candles lit at cemetaries all over the country. I went to the main one Downtown this evening to see how it was and to light a few candles, and the scene was just incredible. It was cold enough to see your breath in the air, and as we stepped into the cemetary the glow from all of these candles made every exhalation visible. It's like nothing I've ever experienced before to see row upon row of lights, while walking through a quiet dark cemetary. Some graves had 5 or 6, some of the famous ones had hundreds. It was spectacular. Since my grandfathers' graves were out of town, I decided to light my candles on an empty grave, to even things out. My cousin and I walked around and couldn't even find one! That's how crazy it was.

All in all, a really nice experience and I'm very happy to have been here for it

Don't worry about these photos, I took them quietly and w/o any flash so it wasn't disrespectful at all. (edit- well, the photos will come up as soon as I figure out some technical problems here)

Come back soon, I'm going to post some pictures of my current residence and you can all compare to my last few accomodations (i.e german airport or spanish parking lot). I think this one stacks up quite nicely against those!

Getting chilly here!