European Tribune - Community, Politics & Progress.

All Souls' Day in Central Slovakia

by DoDo
Sat Nov 8th, 2008 at 05:08:02 AM EST

Like in 2007, 2006 and 2005, I used the occasion of cemetery visits for some autumn photography. This year, it was on the actual day of the Catholic holiday turned secular custom.

(For those in regions without this custom: All Souls' Day is on 2 November, which fell on a Sunday this year.)

While the weather was warm indian summer, it wasn't too kind for photography: some high cirrus clouds arrived to dim the Sunlight. The Sun shiness across a cloud hole into a side valley of the Štiavnica river:

Though it was one rainy week after forests displayed their brightest colours, still a lot of autumn leaves remained:

Another cemetery, and a castle...

...and inside that castle:

On to the ruin of another castle, Dobronivský hrad (Hungarian: Dobornya, German: Döbring). The Sun again shone across cloud holes upon the mountainside to the East, with its varied vegetation:

On the view towards the Northwest, the valley of the Neresnica enters its narrow part towards Zvolen:

Below the castle is the village of Podzámčok, with the colorful village houses typical for the region:

Let me end in cinemascope:

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All Souls' Day in Central Slovakia | 15 comments (15 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Seed comment (4.00 / 6)

Who else followed the All Souls' Day custom of cemetery visits?

Photos?

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

by DoDo on Fri Nov 7th, 2008 at 02:26:46 PM EST

Re: Seed comment (4.00 / 3)

I didn't, but that part of Slovakia which you captured so well looks a lot like western massachusetts.

Skennah Kowa

by Crazy Horse on Fri Nov 7th, 2008 at 02:31:03 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Seed comment (none / 0)

The old New England towns don't have quite the same architectural style, though it's nice in it's own way. Don't read any Lovecraft before wandering around at night.

by MarekNYC on Sun Nov 9th, 2008 at 12:54:11 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Seed comment (none / 0)

I'm hoping for Google visits when I'm dead and gone.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Fri Nov 7th, 2008 at 07:18:43 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Seed comment (none / 1)

These photos are all gorgeous. Really interesting landscape. My list of places to visit is going to get too long.

Ad astra per aspera

by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Sat Nov 8th, 2008 at 05:07:58 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Seed comment (none / 1)

23 October 2009 Meetup in Banská Štiavnica? ;-)

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

by DoDo on Sat Nov 8th, 2008 at 05:11:51 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Seed comment (none / 0)

I'll put it in my diary!

Ad astra per aspera

by In Wales (inwales aaat eurotrib.com) on Sat Nov 8th, 2008 at 05:28:50 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: All Souls' Day in Central Slovakia (4.00 / 3)

I really enjoy these Central Europe travel diaries, Dodo.

I am planning to visit those places - by car - probably next spring, but haven't started looking up where to go. Central Slovakia, Moravia will definitely be on my list !

by balbuz on Sat Nov 8th, 2008 at 11:57:01 AM EST

Recommendations in Slovakia (4.00 / 2)

- by car -

You know I can't endorse that ;-)

There are an awful lot of places to visit there. The region around Banská Štiavnica and Zvolen might not be the best in spring -- in early spring, everything is just brown -- but maybe from late April.

Some other places you should not miss if you pass close:

Oravský hrad, easily the most impressive castle you'll find there, in the romantic valley of the Orava river. (I just learnt from Wikipedia that the 1922 Nosferatu was filmed there!)
The valley of the Váh river upriver of Žilina (narrow and deep, with more castle ruins).
In the East, if you get to the Slovenský raj region ( = Slovakian Paradise;between Poprad, Spišská Nová Ves and Dobšiná), leave behind your car, buy a tourist map, and walk across it for at least a day. Beyond the obvious choice of the chasm of the Hornád, where you shouldn't miss climbing up to the rock outcrop named Tomašovský výhľad, follow at least one of the smaller creeks.
Further Northeast, there's Levoča with its historical city core.

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

by DoDo on Sun Nov 9th, 2008 at 05:14:51 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Recommendations in Slovakia (none / 0)

I'll be keeping these recommendations and start working out the itinerary... Thanks a lot, Dodo.

by balbuz on Mon Nov 10th, 2008 at 10:26:00 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: All Souls' Day in Central Slovakia (4.00 / 2)

Beautiful diary, DoDo. Yes, it's a flowers (chrysanthemums, traditionally) for the departed day here too. Your photos of the cemetery and landscape (though the houses in the village are different), look quite like places in this part of SW France.

All Souls' is called the day of les Défunts, the deceased, but generally, people here associate this grave-visiting with the 1st of November, All Saints' Day, which is a public holiday.

When locusts move on, they leave nothing behind

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Sat Nov 8th, 2008 at 01:01:21 PM EST

Re: All Souls' Day in Central Slovakia (4.00 / 2)

Thanks for this diary, DoDo.

It reminded my of regular cemetery visits on this day throughout my childhood in Austria, sometimes to several cemeteries in sequence, since deceased relatives were not all buried in the same place. There was also the anxiety, even rivalry to make the family tomb(s) look good on that day...

Now that I live far away I am rather glad to escape the custom. I still like to visit cemeteries on other occasions, though, just to look and enjoy the peace and quiet.

by Bauhinia on Sat Nov 8th, 2008 at 08:36:39 PM EST

Re: All Souls' Day in Central Slovakia (none / 0)

This tour involved visits to three cemeteries. (Relatives have been buried in three more villages in the region, but those graves are gone.) Other ancestors of mine are buried in three more cemeteries in Hungary -- but I visit those less regularly.

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

by DoDo on Sun Nov 9th, 2008 at 04:56:30 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: All Souls' Day in Central Slovakia (none / 1)

In Poland it's candles. Often in autumn you get misty weather, plus it's far enough north that it gets dark early. So you get this eerie but beautiful sea of flickering lights in the dark mist.

by MarekNYC on Sun Nov 9th, 2008 at 12:52:32 AM EST

Re: All Souls' Day in Central Slovakia (none / 0)

You can see the candles here, too -- but they are all in red glass.

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

by DoDo on Sun Nov 9th, 2008 at 04:53:04 AM EST
[ Parent ]

All Souls' Day in Central Slovakia | 15 comments (15 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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