115/365: Powązki Cemetery

115/365: Powązki Cemetery, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

April 25th

This morning, our neighbours were going to the cemetery to visit a loved one. I went along with them, because Powązki is so beautiful. There are so many statues, and famous people buried there. And an aunt of mine whom I loved when I was small. I had a little bit of trouble finding her grave, but I did and left her a votive in blue glass.

305/365: All Saints' Day

305/365: All Saints' Day, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

November 1st

All Saints' Day. A very important holiday in Poland. Instead of Hallowe'en, we celebrate a solemn remembrance of those who passed. It is around this day that the cemeteries are full of people, and flowers, and candles. Some people will never visit a family grave save for that one day, so it is very important to make it special. People will spend hundreds of zloties on decorating and lighting the tombstones.

Also, unusually, many cemeteries stay open all night. This photo was taken late at night at the Doły Cemetery in Łódź, which dates back to 1896 and holds catholic, lutheran, orthodox , baptist, pentecostal, muslim, mariavite, military and non-denominational graves. It is one of Lodz's largest necropoliae, and oddly enough, straddles a street called Smutna- which means 'sad'.

All of the lights you see in these pictures are candles. There was at least one on every grave.

I don't have any family there- I went to Warsaw early in the morning and visited my paternal grandparents' grave. We do it every year.

108/365: The President's Funeral

108/365: The President's Funeral, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

April 18th

After the funeral Mass, both caskets are carried out of the Mariacki church and placed on gun carriages drawn by green army Hummers. These will lead the procession through the city all the way to Wawel Hill where the President and the First Lady will be laid to rest in the crypt under the Silver Bell tower. The names of all those who perished in the plane crash on April 10th 2010 will be carved into the sarcophagus.

Lots of videos documenting the funeral available here. Some 150,000 people showed up to say goodbye (which you can see in my other pictures), and though I was not a supporter of this particular president I found the experience very moving. It transcended politics- it was not about opinions, parties or loyalties, save one: that to our country. This may sound pathetic, but perhaps you had to be in that crowd to understand how pure this coming together of people was. I don't expect this solidarity to last, but for one week at least we all seemed to understand and support each other.

106/365: The insurgent

106/365: The insurgent, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

April 16th

Inside the Sacred Cross church, the body of Ryszard Kaczorowski, our last president in exile, waits for the funeral mass to begin. The woman standing watching is wearing an AK armband. AK stands for Armia Krajowa, the Home Army, the Polish resistance movement of WW2. This frail little old lady fought for our freedom. Her armband says 'Komenda Główna', which means Headquarters. She was an officer.

105/365:Candles in Lodz

105/365:Candles in Lodz, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

April 15th

A small tribute to our late President in the Schiller Passage. In Warsaw, people placed candles by the presidential palace, but in Lodz it's not so obvious.

I am not sure but it seems these kind of jar candles are not known in the West. I remember having to explain to friends from the UK that they were burning graveyard candles on their dinner table, and now I see a question in the comments that further shows they may be a mystery to the non-slavic countries. In essence they are candles made specifically for burning on graves, or, as in this case, in a public place as a symbol of rememberance. You would not, however, place such a candle in your window even if it symbolised the same tragic event. You don't take these home. They are for the dead.

We call them 'znicze'. The word dates back to pagan times, when some Slavic religions would keep an eternal fire burning on their altar. I'm afraid I don't know anything more on the subject.

As a point of interest, the panels you can see in the background are part of a very graphic and disturbing exhibit commemorating the Katyń Massacre of 1940. The President and the 95 other people who perished in the plane crash last Saturday were on their way to Russia to attend a service honouring the 70th anniversary of these deaths.

100/365: Mourning

100/365: Mourning, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

April 10th

Our president and close to a hundred other people were killed today when their plane crashed in Smolensk,Russia.

They were on their way to honour the 70th anniversary of the Katyń Massacre. Among them were members of Parliament, heads of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Special Ops , elite historians, leaders of organisations for the victims of Soviet repression, our last president in exile, the head of the Polish Olympic Committee, the head of the Rememberance Institute, the head of the National Bank...some of them were friends of my family- one, an actor, was our neighbour.

An unbelievable loss for our country. So many fine men and women lost all in one blink of an eye.

The flags are out with black ribbons to honour them. We're all in shock- this seems like the plot of a sci-fi movie, and not reality. Things like this just do not happen.

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8612825.stm

92/365: A cross of light for JP2

92/365: A cross of light for JP2, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

April 2nd

This cross of lamps was set up as part of the last station for the city's Stations of the Cross procession, on Piłsudski square where John Paul II spoke on his first visit home after becoming Pope. By a moving coincidence this year Good Friday falls on the anniversary of his death, and the Stations left later than usual as they were timed to arrive at the square close to 21:37, the hour of his death. We were there an hour earlier but we stopped to light a candle.