Polish All Saints Day

On November 1st, the Polish All Saints Day will be celebrated. It is a national holiday in Poland, during which people visit burial places of their loved ones. They decorate their graves with candles and flowers,

There are several ways in which people refer to this day in Polish: Wszystkich Świętych, Święto Zmarłych or Dzień Zaduszny or Zaduszki (which is actually on November 2nd).

Keep in mind that all the stores and shopping malls will be closed. Also, prepare for heavy traffic and no parking spots, especially around cemeteries.

You can read more about this tradition here: All Saints Day in Poland – 1st of November

Even if you are a foreigner and do not have any relatives buried in this country, I highly recommend you to take a walk to the nearest cemetery on that day, and experience its unique atmosphere. Here are some of the most important Polish cemeteries where great Poles were buried:

Cmentarz Powązkowski, Warsaw (with graves of many important people, interred along the “Avenue of Notables” (Aleja Zasłużonych)

Cmentarz żydowski, Łódź (it was once the biggest Jewish cemetery in Europe, 42 ha)

Cmentarz Rakowicki, Cracow (the largest and most important of all Cracow’s cemeteries)

Cmentarz Centralny, Szczecin (the biggest one in Poland and one of the biggest in Europe)