Minden szentek napja--All Saints Day

They don't have Halloween here on October 31 where you dress up like witches and goblins to scare everyone. Instead they have All Saints Day on November 1 where you burn lanterns on the family graves to honor the good spirits of the past.(Don't forget to click on the pictures for a closer view.)


The cemetery was packed with people honoring their ancestors.


Afterwards we went to listen to Mozart's Requiem at the large Lutheran church downtown in this mostly Catholic town. We sat on narrow benches that were hard for me not to fall off. (Either they had shorter legs then or they were trying to encourage you to get on your knees to pray!) Although they are probably several hundred years old, they've modernized them with heating coils underneath the seats to keep us warm. (I wondered why my thighs felt so warm in the cold church.) As we listened we thought about how thankful we are that in Gainesville our ward and stake had a wonderful music program so that our children could learn how to put on this sort of concert themselves.


On the way back to the car, we could hear all the church bells in town ringing to honor the dead. Click on the video and you can get a taste of what we heard.