Light in the Darkness

It's All Saints' Day and we went to church to listen to Fauré's Requiem. I knew the requiem was part of a service and was OK with that, even if I wasn't exactly enthusiastic about it. However, I was really impressed by humanity of the service as the church and congregation remembered their dead. I thought about family and friends who are no longer with us, and also of a young man who was a colleague of mine and died far too young and is buried outside the church here. (The Requiem was excellent too.)
Many in the congregation had come early and placed candles on graves. Others did it afterwards in the darkness. And around this country church the darkness is fairly solid, far away from street lights and towns, so the little globes of light really show up.
Jan has blipped an exterior shot of the grave lights and  church so I chose an interior image, taken at the end of the service as people were going out.
The concept of "light in the darkness" is a big part of culture here, and with it comes a positive attitude to darkness.  After all, you can't see and appreciate the lights without the surrounding darkness. Perhaps the long light summers with no darkness also contribute to this.
A very positive start to winter!