Cultural: All Soul's Day - Nov. 2

In Poland, “All Saint’s Day” gets most of the attention, but November 2 is also a holiday. It’s just not a public holiday!

I have to admit that for years I was unaware of it - I mean, really aware of it.

Let me tell you what I’ve read…

According to this website:

The second of November is Dzień Zaduszny (All Souls’ Day) or Zaduszki in short. This is a rather reflective (or contemplative) day, a chance to pray. It is the time when people commemorate and remember their departed loved ones. Although this is not a public holiday and most people go to work, they still come in the afternoon or in the evening to bring new grave candles. The evenings are really remarkable with all those grave candles glowing in the dark and this view makes you think and most of all remember the departed loved ones.

It is possible that while on November 1, it appears to those of us who are on the outside, that everyone becomes a saint, for the purpose of remembrance (it seems that almost all have flowers or candles put on their graves), possibly on the 2nd, those who are faithful, go back and pray for those they believe are in purgatory.

That is according to Wikipedia as well.

I did have a friend tell me that on that day ghosts came to their house and I see on Wikipedia something is mentioned about that - so I guess I am not remembering it wrong. I wasn’t sure if she was serious and seeing as that I am the visitor in this country, I didn’t want to seem too incredulous!

After all, if that is what she believed, then, well, that is what she believed. I’ve not had that discussion with anyone else so I don’t know if it is actually a prevalent belief.

In Poland, as well as other Slavic holidays, they celebrate this - though I suspect more in the village areas than the large cities like Warsaw. Traditionally women would bake bread and give it out to the poor or leave it on the graves for the souls (this was from my friend years ago.) Wikipedia also says something similar.

Because it is not a public holiday here and people have to work normally, it’s a lot less obvious what is happening. The stores are all open and shopping appears normal. Since the special candles that they buy often last 72 hours or so, the same ones can be used on the 2nd as they used on the 1st - possibly they are still burning if they didn’t get blown out by a wind!

I took a couple of pictures of these special candles that the stores offer right now - they last for hours and hours as long as the rain doesn’t get into them. Here’s some that Lidl had.

These supposedly burn for 115 hours so if you put it up a couple days ahead of Nov 1, it would still be burning on Nov. 2

$5.18 is what these huge ones cost. They are supposed to burn for 115 hours which is getting close to 5 days! I didn’t open them up to take a look inside as I had a security guy at Lidl come up to me (one time - not this time) when I was taking pictures and told me to stop.

Then we went to a different grocery store (Piotr and Pawel) and I saw these these.

These beauties cost $3.11 each. I tend too think the prices are very good. The cost for people is that they are expected to put them all the graves of all their relatives and they often put several on one grave. It can add up. Plus, then they are supposed to travel to each grave and clean it and put them on. Those costs can also be a problem. It’s also a very dangerous time for the roads in Poland. There are usually many fatalities (sort of like the July 4 weekend in the USA - or Memorial Day - or Labor Day - when lots of people are on the roads).

I opened one up so you could see what was actually inside. There is a plastic holder of wax that goes down inside the heavier plastic or glass beautiful candle container. This one is supposed to last for 52 hours. So, just over 2 days.

Wikipedia links this day to Halloween and some of the same types of things being celebrated. In Poland we have an interesting situation since Halloween is gradually starting to be celebrated with stores carrying special candy to give out for trick or treaters as well. I also took a couple of pictures of some of the Halloween themed things at Lidl - I know Halloween was a couple of days ago - but it isn’t really a Polish holiday though some are starting to celebrate it.

We were in Lidl recently - again - we are there relatively often - and I saw these special foods.

I neither bought them or really checked on their prices - sorry about that. I was just fascinated that they had these designs. It made me smile.

So as you can see - it’s an interesting time of year here!

I hope that you’ve enjoyed this short cultural post about All Soul’s Day!

Be sure to check out what my sis has for you in the store!

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