All Saints’ is a national holiday in Poland celebrated on November 1st. People go to a cemetery to visit graves of family members, friends and people they knew. They light candles, leave flowers and pray for their souls. Necropolises are full of candle light and reminiscing people in this special day. People believe that candles burning for many hours help souls find their way through the darkness. Cemeteries are lit by many hundreds of these candles and at night they are seen glowing from long distances.
I used to did not like this holiday because I considered it very sad and depressing. I preferred the American counterpart of this holiday such as Halloween. Halloween was associated with good times, costumes and “trick or treat”, where All Saints’ was a time of reflection, remembering and prayer. I still love Halloween but I also learned to respect All Saints’.
This year I wandered between graves in an old cemetery “ Powązki” in Warsaw. There were many beautiful old graves with sculptures attached to it. I started looking at them closely and realized that some of these sculptures are very well made and beautiful... Sculptures of angels made the biggest impression on me. I found them nostalgic and romantic in some way...so I decided to take a few shots.
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