WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poles met with families and visited their deceased loved ones on All Saints' Day, which was celebrated Saturday across the Catholic world.
All Saints' Day, celebrated annually on November 1, is one of the most important days in the Polish calendar. Supermarket shelves are stocked with candles for weeks to come. As the day approaches, street vendors compete for space near the cemetery entrances, selling chrysanthemums and traditional snacks such as pretzels, called obwazanki in Polish.
In the country's cities, special bus routes were introduced with final stops at the largest cemeteries. Residents of large cities headed to the suburbs or villages where parents or grandparents lived to visit the graves of deceased family members together. To maintain order on the roads during the holiday, the police organized special patrols, jokingly called “Operation Candle”.
Poland appeared to come to a standstill on Saturday as people headed to cemeteries to collectively pay tribute to the dead. As the day turned to dusk, the graves, decorated with white and red candles and bright flowers against a backdrop of orange autumn leaves, radiated warmth and comfort despite the somber occasion.
