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this is art !!!

Thank you, Nora!

Urocze zdjęcie... :-)

Pięknie dziękuję :)

This is simply GORGEOUS!!! Wonderful light and shadow, marvelous colors and details too. Delicious.

Thank you, Janet!
I have to admit that I was surprised with my smartphone's capability to catch them :)

Magnificient!

Thanks a lot!

Très belle prise tout en nuances !

Merci beaucoup!

beautiful!

My cousin who arranged those flowers on our family grave is so happy about being told that :)
Thanks!

A beautiful image.

Thank you, George!

Some wouuld argue that the halloween is not "local" in the central Europe. It seems to be a true statement. But if I think forward, neither the Roman Catholicism was local, it's been imposed and often by force. Not to speak of victims, mostly women who practised the local traditions. Surprisingly, the local religion was - by no surprise - a belief in nature (more generally known as paganism). And one of the newly restored tradition emanating from pan-european paganism - revived by the European immigrants in Canada - is a folk festival of Halloween. So actually this creepy folk festival might be deeper in our DNA than we might admit.

A very interesting interpretation, I join in.

You are absolutely right! Every traditional long-lasting religion is deeply rooted in more ancient rites. It's just that different communities/nations/regions follow their own well-established interpretations and rules of how things should be done and what is frowned upon.
I understand it very well. More so because my own great-grandmother (a devout Catholic) was a witch (sort of). She healed people with her herbs, she communicated with animals and trees. In the village where she lived people tell legends about her. Allegedly she could cast bad spells too with recipes being several hundred years old.

Actually this "dualism" has been practiced for a long time. Despite the prevalence of Christianity, people kept some of the traditions - most notably healing and folk festivals (did you know that even Christmas was banned by Catholics in England in 17th C for a short period). While some of the customs were being punished, other merged into a Christian way (such as Easter, which has folk practice but a major mass in the year). Perhaps the biggest presence of such dualism is the praying to Mary, mother of God which is in fact seen as a blasphemy by large part of Christians, while silently tolerated by others. My explanation is the "need" of a Great Mother divine figure, as seen in all old religions. And the need persist even due - or just because - of patriarchal narrative of the Christianity.

Flowers for All Saints

Exactly!

Really beautiful and a bit mysterious, I like how the flowers are the main theme of the picture.

Thank you very much, Christa!
Most of the credit goes to my cousin (who arranged the flowers) but that's me who took the shot ;)

Hi Marta
I like this picture very much!
Fantastic colours in the arrangement of flowers.
Really very fitting for All Saints day, and November.
Best Wishes, and stay safe!!
Peter

Wow - wunderschön

I think I prefer your way Marta!
A beautiful picture.