While many young people were preparing their Halloween costumes ready for a night of tricking and treating, I pretended to be a middle-aged man and went with Alice to visit her parents grave in the beautiful Bohemian village of Polen near the town of Klatovy. This is about 90 minutes drive from Prague, past the famous city of Pilsen from where the wonderful pilsner beer originates.
These days, Halloween is nothing more than an opportunity to wear some scary fancy dress and to have fun. I am told that Halloween had no significant during communism, which is evidence that this is nothing more than an opportunity for shops to sell related regalia and make some money. But it is fun.
Actually Halloween has Christian origins as it falls on the eve of All Saints Day, which is a tradtional time to visit the graves of ones nearest and dearest. I was pleased to accompany Alice. While I did not have the pleasure to know her mother, who died exactly two years ago, I did have the privilege to know her father, who was a larger than life character and was working on his tractor just hours before he died, a little over a year ago at the age of 85.
Grandpa Jonathan
Prague, Czech Republic
