All Saints Day

I can get on board with all the holidays in Poland. Sure most of them are religious hocus-pocus that I don't believe in, but a day off is a day off, and yesterday was yet another such occassion: All Saints' Day. No one gives much of a shit about Halloween (which works for me) but All Saints' Day is an occassion. Families get together and visit the graves of their dead relatives and trick them out with candles, flowers and all manner of knick-knacks. I went out last night to visit Cmentarz Powązki to see what it was like after dark. Let me tell you, it was a freakin' circus! Vendors were selling the aforementioned candles and flowers, but you could also get candy, waffles, coffee -- it was nuts! People were flocking to the cemetery to gawk just as I was, and thankfully once you got inside the carnival atmosphere dissipated. People quietly walked among the tombs to read the headstones and look at how lavishly the graves had been covered in candles, incense and flowers. Literally every grave has some sort of decoration on it, as apparently it's poor form to leave anyone out -- even if they aren't your relative. The whole cemetery glows (and smells wonderfully, which isn't something I ever figured I'd say about a cemetery). It was a cool thing to experience.

I like that in Poland cemeteries aren't creepy; people actually visit their relatives a lot, and spend a significant amount of effort on the graves. No one holds their breath when driving past them (remember that?) or fears living near one. Personally, I have no bad associations with cemeteries. Sure, my grandparents are all "resting" in them (my dad is in a container on his "wife's" bookshelf, don't get me started) but it was never a *thing* to go visit them; everyone was dropped in the ground and forgotten. Once a year my mother goes to Oconomowoc to plant flowers on the graves of her extended family, but that's mainly because her sister makes her (and her other sister likes to lay down and see if she will 'fit' in the plot she's bought...goo). So I think All Saints' Day is a nice idea. That said, I hope to be cremated -- though if I end up on dad's wife's shelf I'm going to be pissed!