Poland is rich in religious holidays. One of them is the 1st of November. On this day, the Catholic Church honors the memory of All Saints. The church mentions all saints, those who were canonized and those who were not. According to the Catholic canons, all Saints’ Day has the highest rank of solemnity and is among the obligatory holidays when all believers must definitely attend the Mass. On the All Saints’ Day, November 1st and the next day, All Souls’ Day November 2nd, Poles go to the cemeteries to decorate the graves of their relatives with flowers and light candles. In Poland there is a belief that on the All Saints’ Day, the dead are visiting our world and those whom they left. That’s why the Poles sincerely pray for the dead those days. After the sunset, the cemeteries look especially beautiful those days, when a lot of candles burn the whole night. The view is really fascinating.

The All Saints’ Day was not always celebrated on November 1st . At the times of Early Christianity, holiday had been celebrated on May 13th. All Saints’ Day was formally started by Pope Boniface IV, who consecrated the Pantheon at Rome to the church of the Virgin Mary and all the Martyrs in 609 AD. However, in the VIII century, Pope Gregory III consecrated one of the chapels of St. Peter’s Cathedral in honor of all saints on November 1st and changed the date of the holiday. A hundred years later, Pope Gregory IV extended the celebration on November 1st to the entire Church. It is believed that the date of November 1st was chosen because it was the date of the Celtic festival of the dead (Samhain).

After the introduction of Christianity in Poland, the All Saints’ Day is among the four biggest Christian holidays as Easter, Christmas, and Pentecost. There are no proofs of celebration of this holiday during the Middle Ages in Poland. The references of existence of this holiday have survived only in the liturgical calendar.

At the times of Early Christianity in Poland the All Saints’ Day was celebrated only in monasteries., This day began to be celebrated in Poland as a holiday of the universal church in the early 14th century.
The holiday was recognized by the communist authorities of the Polish People’s Republic. They renamed it into the “Day of the Dead” and treated it as a day of remembrance for the dead.