A letter from Liz and Doug Searles in Poland
November 1, 2010
“For all the saints, who from their labors rest ...”
Today, All Saints’ Day — Wszystkich Swietych in Poland —is a bit like Memorial Day and is believed to have been first observed in 5th-century Syria.
On All Saints, November 1, and after, Polish graveyards are ablaze with light and decked with bright flowers.
In Lodz, shops were shuttered tight today, except for flower-sellers, candle-sellers and a few restaurants and grocers. In the past few days families have been purchasing special long-lasting, brightly colored candle lanterns and bouquets or wreaths of flowers, especially huge mums and potted plants, and sometimes evergreens.
To observe this special day, many families must travel far to visit the graves of loved ones, or must visit graves in more than one part of Poland.
After sweeping and cleaning the grave, the family places the flowers, kwiat, and candles, znicze, on the headstones. This year two markers have attracted particular attention: first, the huge monument in Warsaw, like two wings of an airplane, to the president and 95 other leaders who died in the Smolensk air crash earlier this year. And second, the grave of Mark Edelman, deceased this year, who was a revered leader of the 1943 Warsaw ghetto uprising again Nazi German occupation.
Parked cars and sellers line the side streets leading to cemeteries. See more photos below.
Although All Saints has Catholic roots and is understood to be a Catholic religious observance, it has become a marker of Polish culture for many. One can find lanterns and flowers in the Protestant and Jewish cemeteries as well as the Catholic ones. Schools are closed and most have a day off from work. During Communist times the practice of honoring the dead continued but was celebrated as “Day of the Deceased.”
The observance is really a two-day affair. All Souls Day follows All Saints on November 2, when Catholic believers may take a Wypominki to their parish priest. These black-bordered cards bear the name of the deceased in purgatory for whom prayers of intention are requested.
All Saints’ and All Souls’ observances in Poland are not a part of my own faith tradition; however, today’s events led me back to one of my favorite hymns. “For All the Saints” celebrates the faith of those who have died, the labors of a “cloud of witnesses” and the reality of the “communion of saints.”
William W. How’s poetry and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ stirring music evoke those who are one in Christ streaming in shining glory through pearly gates. This was an alive and captivating image to me when I was a child, and remains one now.
Here are the first and last of many verses, with a personal favorite in the middle:
For all the saints, who from their labors rest,
Who Thee by faith before the world confessed,
Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blessed. Alleluia, Alleluia!...
O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
All are one in Thee, for all are Thine. Alleluia, Alleluia!...
From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast,
Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
And singing to Father, Son and Holy Ghost: Alleluia, Alleluia!
These images resonate tonight in the lights and people streaming through cemeteries all over Poland and remembering their loved ones. Whatever beliefs and affiliations may threaten to divide us, on this night we all can celebrate the “blest communion, fellowship divine” and proclaim with the poet: “All are one in Thee, for all are Thine.”
Alleluia that this is so!
Liz and Doug Searles in Lodz, Poland
walking with the Kosciol Ewangelicko-Reformowany
jointly appointed by the PC(USA) and Common Global Ministries
(a combined witness of the Christian Church/Disciples of Christ and the United Church of Christ)
The 2010 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 192
More photos of All Saints’ Day
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Scouts sell lanterns as a fundraiser in Lodz. |
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Although the occasion is solemn, there’s a family outing and festival air, with balloons and food stalls among the flowers (kwiat) and lanterns (znicze). |
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Family members sweep and clean graves, rake leaves, and bring fresh flowers and new lanterns. |
