Tove and I went to the cemetery where her father and maternal grandmother are buried. We took candles with us. The candles are in covered glass lamps so that they won't be blown, or rained out.
We had planned on buying wreaths just outside the cemetery but unlike in past years, no one was selling them there. So, we had to be satisfied with just candles.
As we walked through the cemetery it was eerily beautiful with, I would say, 70% of the graves lighted by candles. The weather has been so mild this fall that the heather (everything, and MORE, about heather) (images of heather, lyng in Norwegian) we had planted in September at the graves were still thriving, so we were not as disappointed as we might have been that we did not have wreaths. In many years past snow has covered the ground on All Saints Day, the flowers have died, and the wreaths have really brightened things up. This year, in contrast, all of the flowers everyone planted this Fall are doing very well and the cemetery is lush with green grass and lots of flowers.
By the way, I am not accustomed to actually planting flowers at graves, but it is the norm here. I have not been to cemeteries that often, but it seems to me that in the U.S. people place cut flowers at graves. Does anyone have a different experience? I'd like to know.
4 comments:
I've seen designated holes for potted plants. Does that count?
Are the holes in the earth or are they in the "slab"?
does anyone ever leave candles on the graves that don't have candles?
I don't know. Probably some. You can tell which graves are untended. They are the ones with no flowers planted.
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