In celebration of spirits

IN SWEDEN, INSTEAD OF CELEBRATING ALL HALLOWS’ EVE THEY COMMEMORATE ALLA HELGONS DAG – ALL SAINTS’ DAY – AN ALTOGETHER MORE GENTLE, THOUGHTFUL AFFAIR

Halloween evolved out of Samhain, a Celtic festival during which people would light fires to ward off evil spirits. In 731AD, Pope Gregory III declared 1 November a day of remembrance for all the saints without official days of their own. From the 11th century, the day commemorated all dead and became All Souls’ Day. The night before, All Hallows’ Eve, took on some of the ideas from Samhain as a cleansing ritual before the day ahead. Over time it has evolved into Halloween – a secular event in which children dress up and knock on doors calling ‘trick or treat’ – the threat of practical jokes unless they are bribed with sweets. The increasingly commercialised celebrations embraced by much of the Western world have largely been imported from America, where elaborate costumes bear less and less relation to the origins of the festival. The Swedes, however, take a different approach.

In a country that experiences extreme winters, with only a few hours’ daylight, they take the changing of the seasons very seriously. Alla Helgons Dag (which now falls on the first Saturday of November) coincides with the first day of winter, and so, with a more positive focus than the preceding evening, is also about celebrating light as the nights draw in.

Observed since the eighth century with requiems and bell ringing, Alla Helgons Dag as it is today emerged in the 1900s, when wealthy families started to put candles on the graves of deceased relatives. After the Second World War, the idea spread and churches started holding special services. Ola E Bernestål is from a small Swedish town called Örebro, “There is a candle walk every Alla Helgons Dag through the cemetery where my grandfather is buried,” she says. “Seeing the whole cemetery lit up with candles from people who miss someone they love is beautiful.” For Ingrid Davidson, who lost her husband 26 years ago, the day has special poignancy. “I usually put something made of pine needles on my husband’s grave [a tradition that pre-dates the year-round availability of flowers], as well as a bouquet of flowers and a candle that will burn for 24 hours,” she says. “It means a lot to me and brings back both happy and sad memories. I like to see all the candles burning on other graves, too – it feels good to share the experience. In the evening I call my daughters and a friend who’s recently lost her husband. I light a candle at home and listen to the sombre yet beautiful music they play on the radio to mark the occasion.”

Those who don’t have family members buried nearby still remember those they have lost. “When I was a child, my mum used to take me to the local cemetery to look at the graves by candlelight,” explains Johanna Agerman Ross. “We had no relatives to visit in that particular cemetery, but we would think of family members who have passed. I remember the serenity and beauty of all the candles on the graves.”

There is one particular cemetery in Stockholm called Skogskyrkogården – a UNESCO-listed graveyard with architecturally acclaimed chapels and landscaped grounds – where the effect is particularly profound. “Skogskyrkogården during Alla Helgons Dag is really beautiful,” says Kajsa Moström. “To see it overflowing with the light of thousands of candles is really magical.” The atmosphere created by seemingly infinite points of light from candles and lanterns across 250 acres alone is worth a trip to Sweden.