All Souls' Day

The Czech alternative to Halloween sees cemeteries filling up with people lighting candles and leaving flowers on graves.

The tomb of singer Karel Gott, though, can be found in the Malvazinky Cemetery in Prague 5, as he had long been a resident of the district. Most cemeteries have maps near the entrance listing the more famous people buried on their premises and also showing the sections. Across the street from them is the German Evangelical Cemetery (Německý evangelický hřbitov), which reopened a few years ago after having been closed since the end of World War II. Sokol movement founder Miroslav Tyrš, comedians Jan Werich a Jiří Voskovec, faith healer Jan Mikolášek (who was the subject of the film “Charlatan”), and a host of artists and other famous Czechs can be found there are well, and all have a few tributes left by fans. In some areas, especially in South Bohemia, pastries were baked in the shapes of bones. On that day, families go to the cemetery to clean up and decorate the graves of loved ones and famous people. Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead tradition in Mexico, also takes place in the first days of November. People would drink or splash themselves with cold milk to cool the pain of the spirits. The newer part is by metro stop Želivského, with the entrance at the tram stop Mezi Hřbitovy. While the celebration’s roots are in Roman Catholicism, it is also recognized by other Christian denominations in the Czech Republic. The Slavic ones seem to be influenced by Celtic traditions related to the autumn festival of Samhain. Families clean the headstones, brush away the leaves from the graves, and leave candles and elaborate floral displays.