I love pumpkins – their strange shapes and bright colours, but I don’t enjoy Halloween… I’d say it’s daft, sometimes even macabre – can you really state that hanging dummies representing Sarah Palin* outside your house is normal? It must be something very American… So I’m happy that Halloween didn’t catch on in Lithuania. The All Saints Day*, that we celebrate on the 1st of November, obviously was more important.All Saints is all about commemorating the dead - the tradition is to visit the graves of your deceased relatives and light candles for them. On that day all cemeteries are flooded with people who bring flowers and light probably millions of candles throughout Lithuania. I’ve been doing it for many years, but it’s still spectacular – white, yellow or lilac chrysanthemums, the smell of burning wax… and the thought that winter is somewhere close, just round the corner…
Photos that were taken on the 2nd of November:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------*Sarah Louise Heath Palin (born February 11, 1964) is the governor of the U.S. state of Alaska and the Republican Party's vice-presidential nominee for the 2008 United States presidential election.
*All Saints' Day, often shortened to All Saints, is a feast celebrated on November 1 in Western Christianity, and on the first Sunday after Pentecost in Eastern Christianity in honour of all the saints, known and unknown.
In Portugal, Spain and Mexixo, ofrendas (offerings) are made on this day. In Spain, the play Don Juan Tenorio is traditionally performed. In Austria,Belgium, France, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain people bring flowers to the graves of dead relatives.
In Poland, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Finland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Lithuania, Croatia, Austria, Romania, Hungary and catholic parts of Germany, the tradition is to light candles and visit the graves of deceased relatives.
