All Souls Day
2020 All Souls Day at Allanton Cemetery where there are many graves of the early Polish settlers to Otago. RIP
In Poland, Dzień Wszystkich Świętych is a public holiday. Families try to gather together for both All Saints’ Day and the All Souls’ Day (Zaduszki), the official day to commemorate the departed faithful. The celebrations begin with tending to family graves, surrounding graveyards, lighting candles and leaving flowers in a cemetery the first day and, what often extends into the next. November 1st is a bank holiday in Poland and, while the following All Souls’ Day (Zaduszki) is not. The Zaduszki custom of honouring the dead thus corresponds with All Souls’ Day celebrations, and is much more observed in Poland than in most other places in the West.
