Of Saints and their Day

For almost a week now, every cemetery in Luxembourg has become crowded. The usually calm and serene graveyards are like beehives full of activity. This happens once a year, one week leading to the first of November, the All Saints Day. DM magazine dropcap: The other day I went the cemetery to put some flowers on my husband’s grave, and as it is always empty from visitors, I usually take my time cleaning the stone and calmly saying prayers for him and for his neighbours, who are all resting in peace! 

On that day people were there doing different things - an elderly lady brought a cleaning lady with her to do some deep cleaning, others were cleaning on their own while a flower-shop van brought different flower arrangements and placed them on the graves. This day is actually a public holiday here in Luxembourg. On this day, even the not so religious people take the effort to drive to cemeteries and place flowers on graves. 

Priests visit the cemeteries on that day and say prayers for the departed.

However, there seems to be a shortage of priests in this country that has a substantial Catholic adherence. This is because as most priests are getting older, the younger generation are not interested in priesthood; in fact not interested in religion all together! 

So to sort out this shortage, priests start earlier than November to make their prayer rounds in cemeteries. This way, they manage to visit all the cemeteries. 

It’s also interesting to note that there are also forest cemeteries here in Luxembourg. These are meant for those who wished to be cremated, and their ashes buried under trees in the forest. So forests also get the vibe of visitors on this day. 

Back to the younger generation not interested in religion. These ones instead, celebrate Halloween in a big way. 

Just to remind ourselves, Halloween is a derivation from “All Hallows” meaning the Feast of Saints, celebrated on October 31, the night before the All Saints Day. It has also become a very commercial affair, where thousands of pumpkins are sold as decorations. Scary costumes and other ornaments also make their way on the supermarket shelves, parties are organised and in many households the subject of which costume the children will wear is a yearly struggle.

Little children also walk in their neighbourhood, carrying lamps and baskets asking for ‘trick and treat.’ That too is a big market for the sale of chocolate and confectioneries. 

Last year, my neighbour bought tens of different types of sweets last year, waited the whole night but no single child knocked on her door. This left her quite disappointed!

In such occasions I try to remind myself that we should not wait for our loved ones to leave us to be remembered, a bouquet of flower has a bigger impact on a person living!