1st November by the Poles

Itt happened first 1 year ago, that I had an opportunity to observe here All Saints day, and that time I've already wondered about some local habits. This year 1st November was also spent here, so with mom and sister of my partner we visited 4 cementaries to show respect for deceased relatives. 

A famous Polish philosopher, Kopaliński's
tomb, who lived exactly 100 years

It is also common by us, that we go out to these places at this time of the year, but let's have a look, what is a tiny bit unusual here?

Polish people are respecting traditions very much, they are a deeply emotional nation, besides that most of them are religious catholic.

At this day they are closing the region of the cementeries, parking by car there is hardly possible, and they are launching separate buses and tram lines travelling between cementaries, starting with the sign "C" (cmentarz). Close to entrance gates of cementaries you can see crowds visiting as well as people selling flowers, wreaths and candles, they are selling some typical snacks, like a slightly sweet bunch of round-shaped hanging pretzel, or traditional varsavian soft candy, which is called Pańska Skórka.

They achieved by me a lot of respect with the following heart-warming gestures, after buying a few candles:

- Sister of Łukasz gave a candle into my hand, when we attended the tombs of Warsaw defenders from year 1939, and she said, that I should choose randomly one grave and put it there. (My choice was an anonymous tomb, among others with names written on plaques)
- It’s a Day not only dedicated to visiting tombs of your relatives, but also those people, who are important to you, even if you didn’t have a chance to know them personally. With their mother we were looking for the grave of Irena Kwiatkowska, who is a famous actress, and in the end we didn't find it, so we had to give up, but we stopped by tombs of poets (Staff and Tuwim) to show respect and light candles.
- I also noticed, that they didn't only cared about their own relatives - if unattended graves were nearby, they also cleaned them up and light up a candle there.

Showing respect on Polish way

And we weren't alone with showing respect to famous people, this seems like a usual habit here. Poets, actors, philosophers and athlete's graves were surrounded by lampions already before noon too. The most touching were for me the tombs of historical and war heroes as well as the Warsaw Uprising's victims. I've already seen a few films related to the topic, and well, the nation has to be really made of hard rock, who survives so terrible attacks, with that kind of pride...I cannot  describe, how much condolence and love enwarms me from inside also now, when I 'm thinking back to these grandparents, young and old people, who lightened up candles for others, whom are not even distantly related to them... It was fantastic to see this!

And in the evening, like everywhere, there was a beautiful dome of lights above cementeries, caused by wreaths and candles burning brigthly, so we went once again to Powązkowska Street (where the oldest and most famous cementary is located), and we noticed, that many foreigners were also interested to see this sight, over and over we have heard English or French speaking people. The picture cannot give back the magic, but gives you an idea, how to imagine a famous grave:

So, for me it was unbelievably touching to see such respect and humility, and it is a very strange feeling, that even if my roots are not related to here, but... I feel like they are my relatives somehow!