Paper long abstract:

In Sweden, visits to cemeteries at the All saints’ day-weekend has become an increasingly popular practice. About ten years ago it was estimated that about 50% of the population undertook a visit to cemeteries during the weekend and more recently it has been suggested that the celebration of All saints’ day is a new national ritual. That visits to cemeteries is a common practice during the weekend is well known, not least among staff at churchyard administrations, how widespread the practice is, is however largely unknown. We do not know which parts of the Swedish population in terms of for example age and ethnic and religious background that make visits or the reasons for these persons’ visits. To learn more about these issues and to test methodologies for studying the use of cemeteries at All saints’ day weekend a small pilot study was conducted in the fall 2021 and 2022. In the pilot study short highly structured interviews were conducted on the largest cemetery in Gothenburg and observations were made at parts of it. We also explored how photographic documentation could be used and challenges that comes with that method. In this presentation results of this study will be presented together with an overview of what we know of about the practice in contemporary Sweden.