All Saints' Day in Slovakia
While living in Slovakia, I was enthusiastic about taking part in customs and traditions, particularly surrounding the holidays. I expected that Christmas and Easter would be significant occasions of the year, and they were, but I never imagined that the holiday that would touch me the most would be All Saints’ Day.
The first of November is a national holiday in many European countries, including Slovakia. On this day of All Saints it is customary for people to take time during the day or evening, to go to the cemetery where relatives, friends or neighbors have been laid to rest.
The closest relatives to the deceased are responsible for the upkeep of the grave and bringing flowers, but all visitors should bring candles to light and place on the graves of those they knew, and to say a prayer or reflect on them.
In Slovakia, cemeteries are vibrant with color and busy with visitors tending to the graves of their loved ones all year around. This was a surprise to me because I had never thought of a cemetery as a place of activity with people coming and going. After I met my Slovak boyfriend and started spending time with him and his family, trips to the cemetery were normal events, particularly around the holidays. By my second year in Slovakia I realized I had been to the cemetery more times than in the last ten years back home.
On All Saints Day in Slovakia, cemeteries are particularly full of people walking among the myriads of different gravestones, stopping to light candles along with placing flowers by headstones. What is wonderful about this tradition is the feeling of community and respect. A cemetery can be a cold and desolate place, a symbol of pain and sorrow. But when a cemetery is filled with people walking throughout, carrying votive candles or flowers, it can become a place of peace and uplift where a person can share the heartache of loss simply by being silently surrounded by people from your town or village. There is something beautiful in the sea of flowers that have been lovingly placed on the many graves, or seeing the flicker of numerous candles as warm proof of memories, and of those present who have not forgotten.
In Slovakia a cemetery is a place that is meant to be visited and where visitors are welcome. All Saints’ Day is a personal experience for anyone, religious or non-religious; how spirituality is expressed is entirely up to the individual. For me it is simply celebrating life and remembering those who have come before me. Even though I don’t have any relatives buried in cemeteries in Slovakia, I go, none the less, to remember my own relatives who have passed away and how their lives have affected mine. In all cemeteries there is a memorial cross where it is possible to leave a candle and a prayer for someone who rests in another town or on the other side of the world. The keeping of the customs on All Saints’ Day is a wonderful way of participating in the celebration of life – present and past – and that is something that almost everyone has an appreciation for.
