November Days

The first 2 days of this month are traditional holidays in most Catholic countries worldwide. November 1, is the official All Saints Day, which honors all saints who attained Beatific Vision, followed by All Soul's Day on November 2, honoring the "Day of the Dead", dedicated to the departed.

Although the celebrations may vary from country to country depending on their customs, generally speaking. at this time, Catholics go all the way out to clean, and give a face-lift to the burial grounds belonging to their families, and all living family members make a special visit to their local cemeteries, even if they have to travel long distances.

While in Albania at this time, I was able to visit Tirana's cemetery, where two of my family members are buried. This visit occurred, however, only today due to other commitments that I had on Sunday, and, being a week day, it turned out to be a much more intimate and quiet experience. This graveyard is the property of the State since it was created in the early 1960's when the communist government decided to transfer here the remains from older grounds that were used instead to build state housing for the expanding population of this capital.

Upon my return to Albania in 1993 I learned that, while the communist dictatorship made the decision, the actual transfer of the remains was left to be accomplished by the family member or relatives, who dug up the bones of their dear ones and transported them on their bicycles to the new site. These were the days when no religious practices or private cars were allowed, and everyone was expected to volunteer work for the state. The remains were collected by hand and reburied directly into the ground or in plastic bags, if available.

When I paid my first visit in 1993 there were only very small markers to identify the lots, and no marble was available to setup tombstones. Since then the new cemetery has quadrupled in size, most of tombs have been setup with all sorts of sculptures, stones of different colors, and even railings and fences. The road that leads into the cemetery is now lined up with businesses that provide all sorts of services to the visitors, including enormous assortments of fake or fresh flowers, and even bottles of water.






During my visit today, I was thinking that I would need a whole week to visit all my family burial grounds, on both paternal and maternal sides, since they are located in 5 different countries, on 2 continents (New York, Italy, Montenegro, Albania, and Turkey).

Solicited by some relatives, about a year ago I took care of the transfer of my family plot in Montenegro from the original place, which has since been abandoned by the local church that it belonged to, to another small graveyard, up in the mountains closer to the place where my paternal grandfather lived. The original stone with the engraved names of one of my uncles and two aunts was in perfect condition, and it was mounted on top of a more modern marble structure, pictured below.


Today's visit to the cemetery in Tirana happened in full sunshine, with gorgeous blue skies, and hot weather for this time of the year (80 degrees F), while, heavy rains and floods are plaguing Italy where the the 90th anniversary of WWI is being celebrated.