Zaduszki

On this day people visit cemeteries to light candles and pray for the souls of their faithful departed, especially those believed to be in purgatory.

The annual celebration in the liturgical year of All Souls' day was standardized and put on 2 November by St. Odilo of Cluny by the end of the 10th century.

It was believed that during the days of Zaduszki in the autumn, the spirits of deceased relatives visited their old homes by gathering near the windows or on the left side of the main doorway.

Similar observances exist not just in Poland, but in other Slavonic countries as well, such as Serbia, Slovenia, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovakia.

These are known by a variety of names: However, unlike Roman Catholic Poland, in Orthodox Slavonic countries there are four of these events in a calendar year: the one on the first Saturday in November, like All Hallow's Eve / All Saints in Roman Catholic, Anglican, and some Lutheran communities, called The St Demetrius Day Zadušnice/Zadušnica, but also the one before the start of the Great Lent (as a rule in March), the one before the Pentecost, and the one before Michaelmas.