The end of
October and the beginning of November is the period when people contemplate
death. They deal with this subject in many different ways. In some cultures,
for example in Poland ,
it comes down to a religious celebration of the holidays called All Saints’ Day
which falls on the 1st of November and All Souls’ Day on the 2nd of
November. It’s the time when Poles visit cemeteries and light candles on the tombs
of their deceased loved ones praying for them. In churches the meditation on
what is temporal and eternal takes place. It is rather sad and melancholic
time.
On the
other side, probably the most known worldwide tradition dedicated to the souls
of dead is the 31th of October called Halloween. The western practice to dress
up as ghosts, vampires, zombies, witches and so on is more and more perceptible
also in Poland .
It is more playful approach to the topic.
This year I
spent that time in my hometown Bielsko-Biała .
The last day of October I cleaned the tombs on cemeteries and I prepared them
for the next day celebrations. On my way home I saw a group of children dressed
up as different creatures who were walking from house to house shouting ‘trick
or treat!’ in Polish. I was shocked. In the evening I made an appointment with
my friend. On the streets there were more groups of young ghosts and zombies. After
sunset Bielsko is usually rather empty but that evening it was full of life, or
even better saying full of death! There were a lot of dressed up teenagers who
were frightening the passersby. I felt like in a horror movie. I dislike such a
entertainments and I don’t support the western tradition of Halloween but I
have to say that the atmosphere of that evening was unique. All thanks to the
weather which perfectly fit the circumstance. There was such a thick fog that
me and my friend couldn’t find each other on the street. It made the city look mysterious
and scary. The fog created also some natural Halloween decorations. For example
the small mote of water settled on the spider webs on the bridge, which made an
amazing effect! The picture doesn’t express it very good and the quality is bad
too but you can imagine more or less what it was like ;)
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