Many times I’ve heard that Poles and Irish are supposedly alike because we share the same religion. However, many common holidays are celebrated quite differently in Ireland than in Poland.
Hallowe’en, for instance, has it roots in pre-Christian Ireland. But whereas nowadays the traditional celebrations here have mostly gone the American way – the costumes and trick-or-treating don’t have much to do with praying for the dead to be released to Heaven – in Poland we still stick to the old traditions.
On the day of All Souls that dawns just after Hallowe’en, we put on our winter outfits and go visit the graves of the dead with family and friends, bringing chrysanthemums and lighting candles. We get together with relatives who’ve travelled from all the corners of the globe, and we talk about those who died recently, telling stories about them and looking at old photographs.
I spent my first Hallowe’en in Ireland in a house on my own, just a few days after I arrived. As instructed beforehand, I equipped myself with sweets and dried fruit and nuts and waited for the children knocking at the door. The excitement on that small street lasted for a few hours.
This year, however, wasn’t so much fun. Living in an apartment block, nobody knocks on your door…
I spent the evening thinking of all the dead I know, and those I’m aware of only from family stories. I thought of the cemeteries hidden between tall white birches in Bronowo and on the hill of Drozdowo, places where my relatives come from. I picture the gravestones bathed in the evening glow from the thousands of candles lit upon them, as I say quietly to myself: I remember.
– Emilia Marchelewska
