Autumn, with its early morning frosts and soft sunset mists, creates a
fitting atmosphere for the annual ritual of visiting the graves of your
loved ones in cemeteries all over the country. This ritual has become, for
most Hungarians, a residual of the former traditional folk practices in
rural areas which have all but died out. These were closely related to the
unique customs observed in specific areas during the religious feast of All
Souls' Day, when the peasants would take food and other presents to the
graves, especially during the Christmas holidays.

The fact that the two most important (failed) revolutions in Hungary's
history are also commemorated in the month of October make the visits to the
cemeteries nearly a month-long event for Hungarians.

Now that the population is more mobile, people travel from one end of the
country to the other to the place where their family grave sites happen to
be.

Ever since the declaration of the new Democratic Republic of Hungary 11
years ago on October 23, the coincidence of the Day of the Dead with the
official commemorations of the 1956 Revolution has created a literal exodus
of people travelling to cemeteries throughout Hungary and, in some cases,
over the borders to Hungarian towns in Transylvania, the Bánát region in
Slovakia and the Vojvodina area of Serbia.

Some even journey to Russia, to lay wreaths along the banks of the Don River
Bend where thousands of young Hungarian soldiers lost their lives in Hitler'
s forced march on the Soviet Empire in the fall of 1942.

Specialized Hungarian tour agencies now also organize bus tours to the First
World War battlefields in the Italian Alps, where famous battles were fought
on the Piave River and the slopes of the Doberdo, and where Hungarians join
their Italian neighbors in laying wreaths of tribute decorated with the
mutual tricolor of red-white-green ribbons, on the graves of the fallen
soldiers in enormous military cemeteries.

This year marked the 45th anniversary of the momentous Uprising of 1956
which lasted from October 23 to November 4. The official commemorations of
its heroes living and dead continued through the week.

The commemoration of the dead, particularly of family or tribal ancestors,
is common to people of all faiths. But especially for Catholics in Europe
and the Americas, the observation of the Feast of All Saints (November 1)
and All Souls (November 2) as decreed by the Gregorian Calendar, has been
traditionally practiced for centuries.

In Hungary, the visit to the graves begins on October 6, the Feast of the 13
Martyrs of Arad executed on that day in 1849, following the failure of the
revolution against 200 years of oppressive rule by the Austrian Habsburgs.
Once again this year a delegation of the "Descendants of the Martyrs of
1849" journeyed to Arad in Romania.

Also this year on October 6, a special ceremony was held in the Kerepesi
Cemetery, known as the National Cemetery for its many ornate tombs to noted
historic heroes, poets and artists. School children and adults from all over
Hungary and abroad sang national odes, heard poems and laid wreaths in
remembrance of the dead national heroes.

This year, some 16 days later, marking of the events of 1956 officially
began with a torch-light procession on the afternoon of October 22 and, on
October 23, the ceremonial laying of wreaths by the Government hierarchy and
the families of the more than 400 dead identified to date.

Thus, weeks before November 1-2, the families of these young heroes of 1956
are joined by thousands of people who have made the pilgrimage to their
graves, bringing wreaths (used since ancient Roman times as a sign of
victory), flowers and candles, whose light signifies the eternal life of the
soul.

Annually during this period MÁV, the Hungarian railway, increases the
frequency of its trains between Budapest and major cities such as Miskolc,
Szombathely, Debrecen, Pécs and other provincial centers. Bus services to
the major cemeteries are also increased, and the cemeteries stay open from
dawn to far into the night during the customary period of pilgrimage.

Especially on October 31, the Vigil of All Saints (Halloween, or All Hallows
' Eve), and the subsequent days, the cemeteries, all alight with candles,
will be teeming with people, who process from grave to grave, laying a
flower or lighting a candle at the memorials of the Veterans of World Wars,
of the 1848 and 1956 revolutions, as well as the graves of their own family
members.

Weeks before the official days, the families will go out to the graves with
brooms, shovels, plants and gardening equipment to tidy up the grave sites,
and plant new greenery such as ivy, and the traditional autumn flowers, the
Aster and Chrysanthemum.

After the holy days they will return to cover up the tombstones and
sculptures with plastic against the frost, and change the plants for the
winter, often covering the graves with boughs of pine and boxwood.

A walk through the cemeteries yields many moving scenes of groups of people
busy working, or having a rest and a picnic at the grave site, while others
A walk through the cemeteries yields many moving scenes of groups of people
busy working, or having a rest and a picnic at the grave site, while others
sit gravely, meditating on benches facing their tombs.

Ecumenical rites by the representatives of the major religious communities –
Catholic, Protestant and Jewish – are said over the graves. These include
inspiring readings from the Old Testament Book of Wisdom, from the Psalms,
and from the Evangelist St John's Apocalypse and the Book of Revelations
from the New Testament.

Flower stands with already made-up wreaths, and flower sellers stand
elbow-to-elbow, filling up the space well before the entrances to the
cemeteries.

Special wreaths can be ordered with the client's choice of flowers; often
these will be in the Hungarian national colors of red, white and green.

Visitors can also order ribbons inscribed with special dedicatory mottoes.
Often these mottoes are lines by famous Hungarian poets such as Sándor
Petőfi, the handsome romantic hero whose words sparked the Revolt of 1848,
and were read again in 1956, or Mihály Vörösmarty's Szózat (Summons), the
ultimate Hungarian death dirge:

Oh Magyars, stand beside your land
Unshaken, loyal, true!
Here is your crib, your future grave
Which tends and covers you.

There is no other place for you
On earth, beneath the sky,
May fortune bless or break you down
You must live here and die.

Discussion/Fórum