Article October 30, 2006 Issue

Celebrate LIFE

BY LEIDE LESSA

VIENNA, AUSTRIA, NOVEMBER, 1982.

I had to deal with the cold, cloudy days of fall, so unlike my native Brazil. The first day of the month was All Saints' Day, a national holiday. This day is celebrated in many countries as a way to remember family members, but also as a day to mourn.

There were no classes on November 1, and as I rode the trolley I observed several people going to the Zentralfriedhof (central cemetery), not very far from where I lived in Vienna as a student. A few things caught my attention: the way people were dressed, the flowers they carried, the expressions on their faces. For them it didn't seem a solemn or sad event, but more of a social and family occasion. Later I found out that this was so.