---
title: "Pyhäinpäivä: where to put a candle when the grave is in another country"
description: "One Finnish Saturday turns cemeteries into seas of light. The custom began at war graves, and its brightest spot belongs to people buried elsewhere."
type: "article"
category: "finland-explained"
url: "https://finnishirl.com/blog/pyhainpaiva-candles"
canonical: "https://finnishirl.com/blog/pyhainpaiva-candles"
published: "2026-10-10"
updated: "2026-10-10"
author: "Andrey the Nomad"
site: "Finnish IRL"
license: "https://finnishirl.com/terms#ip"
---
# Pyhäinpäivä: where to put a candle when the grave is in another country
URL: https://finnishirl.com/blog/pyhainpaiva-candles
Date: 2026-10-10
Updated: 2026-10-10
Category: finland-explained
Keywords: pyhäinpäivä, all saints day finland, finnish cemetery candles, pyhäinpäivä candles, finland all saints saturday, muistolehto
Summary: One Finnish Saturday turns cemeteries into seas of light. The custom began at war graves, and its brightest spot belongs to people buried elsewhere.
Quick answer:
- Pyhäinpäivä is Finland's All Saints' Day, held on the Saturday between 31 October and 6 November.
- After dark, Finnish cemeteries fill with grave candles. Anyone may walk through respectfully.
- The brightest cluster is often the memorial for people buried elsewhere: muualle haudatut.
- The nationwide candle custom spread from soldiers' graves during and after World War II.
What you'll learn:
- How a Saturday cemetery visit unfolds once daylight disappears
- Where to put a candle when your person's grave is somewhere else
- The Finnish words on the signs, in the church and around the graves
- Why the familiar-looking name contains a rare old plural form
Body:
The shopping bags are the first sign. They come through the cemetery gate while it is still stone and wet leaves, and inside them are white lanterns.
Inside them are white grave lanterns. One flame becomes ten. By dark, hundreds of candles have redrawn the cemetery.
This is [pyhäinpäivä](/words/pyhainpaiva): **Finland's movable Saturday for remembering the dead**, observed most visibly outdoors after sunset.
## The brightest candles are for people buried elsewhere
The wall of light above is not a family grave. It is a shared memorial for people whose graves are somewhere else.
The names vary by cemetery. Look for muualle haudattujen muistomerkki, "memorial for those buried elsewhere", or menneiden sukupolvien muistomerkki, "memorial for past generations", which is what most Helsinki cemeteries call theirs. At Hietaniemi it is a flight of steps, signed Muualle haudattujen portaat, in block 20 of the new area. **That is where you put a candle for somebody buried in another Finnish town, another country or at a grave you cannot reach.** No name needs to be written on it.
These shared memorials can become the brightest point in the cemetery. Helsinki cemetery workers report that candles have increased at shared memorials; one parish spokesperson suggested that people moving farther from family graves may help explain why.[^yle-change][^evl-day]
You can go even if you know nobody buried there
The Church of Finland explicitly invites people to walk through the candlelight without tending a grave. Keep to the paths, give families space and do not photograph mourners at close range. You do not have to carry a candle.
## The whole evening happens in four quiet moves
There is no ceremony at the gate. People arrive alone, in couples and in family groups. Nobody organises any of it: no start time, no list, nobody in charge - the same unsupervised shape as talkoot, with the work taken out. In early November the sun is down before five, so the graves can be glowing by late afternoon - the front edge of [the dark season](/words/kaamos), months before the north loses its sunrise.[^helsinki-2026][^helsinki-7000]
1
The bags arrive
Inside are covered hautakynttilät, grave candles made to burn outdoors. People also carry matches or a lighter. Helsinki's 2026 instructions recommend a torch and warm clothes.
2
Families find their plots
Large cemeteries are divided into numbered sections. Plot details and online grave searches matter once the paths go dark.
3
The first flames spread
A candle may sit on the stone, on the earth in front of it or inside a permanent grave lantern. There is no required prayer or phrase.
4
The paths fill
Some visitors stay by one grave. Others walk through the cemetery. In 2023, Hietaniemi and Malmi in Helsinki counted about 7,000 visitors between them.
## The candle sea is younger than it looks
Candles appeared on Finnish graves before the 1940s, but the mass custom spread during and after World War II. It took hold first at soldiers' graves, then moved to the graves of family members and other loved ones across Finland.[^evl-history]
The war explains why a scene that looks ancient became nationwide within living memory. The Christmas Eve version is older, and still the bigger one: the first documented grave candle in Finland was lit at Helsinki's Vanha hautausmaa on Christmas Eve 1921, and Christmas Eve remains the more common of the two evenings to take a candle out.
## The date moves every year
Finland's pyhäinpäivä combines two observances that remain separate in some Christian traditions: All Saints' Day on 1 November and All Souls' Day on 2 November. Since 1955, the Finnish holiday has been observed on **the Saturday between 31 October and 6 November**.[^evl-day]
The Church Act names pyhäinpäivä as a church holiday.[^finlex] The Saturday rule means the number on the calendar changes each year. In 2026 it is 31 October.
Halloween falls on the same night in 2026. That is a calendar overlap, not another name for the same event: costume parties and the cemetery tradition are separate.
## Ten words hidden in the candlelight
| Finnish {fi} | English | Where you meet it |
| --- | --- | --- |
| pyhäinpäivä | All Saints' Day | calendars and church notices |
| hautausmaa | cemetery | maps and gates |
| hauta | grave | plot searches and signs |
| hautakynttilä | grave candle | shops and visitor instructions |
| muistokynttilä | memorial candle | church services and notices |
| vainaja | deceased person | formal church and funeral language |
| edesmennyt | someone who has died | a gentler word in speech and notices |
| muistolehto | memorial grove | cemetery maps, especially for ashes |
| muualle haudatut | those buried elsewhere | the shared memorial |
| kynttiläkirkko | candle service | parish programmes |
The name pyhäinpäivä contains a small fossil of old Finnish. Pyhäin is a plural genitive of pyhä, "saint" or "holy person". Modern Finnish would more often use pyhien, but the rarer -in ending survives inside established compounds.[^kotus-name]
In many candle services, the names of parish members who died during the previous year are read aloud. One candle is lit for each person, and their families may receive a personal invitation.[^evl-day]
## Then somebody has to collect 5,000 lanterns
At Lahti's Levon cemetery, workers collected about **5,000 candles** after the 2024 holiday. A few years earlier, the total had been about 10,000.[^yle-change]
Used lanterns leave wax, metal and plastic behind. Sorting rules vary by cemetery, so the bins on site are the ones to follow.
The Lahti count does not describe the whole country. Vantaa and Hämeenlinna have also reported declines, while Helsinki's Malmi cemetery has seen more candles on graves and at shared memorials.[^yle-change]
## If you go in 2026
Pyhäinpäivä on 31. lokakuuta. All Saints' Day is on 31 October.
- Check the cemetery's opening hours and grave search before leaving.
- Bring a covered grave candle, matches or a lighter, a torch and warm clothes.
- Arrive before sunset if you need to find a particular grave; go after dark for the full candlelight.
- Follow the cemetery's signs and leave used lanterns in the marked sorting bins.
You do not need a Finnish family grave or any religious belief to take part. A quiet walk is enough. Outside Finland, the date is still the thing to know: it is when the Finnish half of a family is standing in a cemetery and not answering the phone. If the person you miss is buried far away, one candle at the muualle haudattujen muistomerkki gives that absence a place.
[^evl-day]: [Pyhäinpäivä](https://evl.fi/perhejuhlat-ja-pyhat/pyhapaivat/pyhainpaiva/) - Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, on the date, the two combined feasts and cemetery visits
[^evl-history]: [Pyhäinpäivänä muistetaan kuolleita rakkaita](https://evl.fi/tiedote/pyhainpaivana-6-11-muistetaan-kuolleita-rakkaita/) - Church Information Centre, on the spread of grave candles from soldiers' graves in the 1940s
[^helsinki-2026]: [Muistojen puutarhat 2026](https://helsinginseurakunnat.fi/tapahtumat/muistojenpuutarhat-pyhainpaivantapahtuma) - Helsinki Parish Union, with the 31 October programme and visitor instructions
[^helsinki-7000]: [Tuhannet kynttilät syttyivät pyhäinpäivänä](https://www.helsinginseurakunnat.fi/tuomiokirkkoseurakunta/uutiset/tuhannetkynttilatsyttyivatedesmenneidenrakkaidenmuistollepyhainpaivana) - Helsinki Cathedral Parish, reporting the 2023 visitor count
[^finlex]: [Kirkkolaki 652/2023, chapter 1 section 6](https://finlex.fi/fi/lainsaadanto/2023/652) - Finlex, listing Finland's church holidays
[^yle-change]: [Lahden suurimman hautausmaan kynttilämeri kutistui](https://yle.fi/a/74-20192089) - Yle, 5 November 2025, on candle counts and the different trends in Lahti and Helsinki
[^kotus-name]: [Pyhäinpäivä vanhainkodissa](https://kotus.fi/kolumni/pyhainpaiva-vanhainkodissa/) - Institute for the Languages of Finland, on the rare plural genitive in the name
FAQ:
Q: Is Pyhäinpäivä a public holiday in Finland?
A: It is one of the church festival days named in the Church Act, so work done on it earns the statutory Sunday premium. But it always falls on a Saturday, so unlike Finland's weekday holidays it gives almost nobody a day off, and shops keep normal Saturday hours.
Q: Can anyone visit a Finnish cemetery on Pyhäinpäivä?
A: Yes. You do not have to be Lutheran, religious or visiting a particular grave. Walk quietly, keep to the paths and give families room around graves.
Q: Do I need to take a candle?
A: No. Many people go only to walk through the candlelight. If you take one, choose a covered grave candle and bring matches or a lighter.
Q: Where can I leave a candle for someone buried abroad?
A: Look for a shared memorial labelled muualle haudattujen muistomerkki or muualle haudatuille. It is specifically for remembering people buried elsewhere.
Q: Why are so many candles gathered in one place?
A: Many stand at a shared memorial for people buried in another town or country. The sign usually says muualle haudatut or muualle haudattujen muistomerkki.
Q: Is Pyhäinpäivä the Finnish Halloween?
A: No. They can fall on the same date, but Pyhäinpäivä is a day of remembrance centred on graves and churches. Finnish Halloween parties are a separate, imported custom.
Q: What happens in church?
A: Many congregations read aloud the names of members who died during the previous year and light one candle for each person. Families may receive a personal invitation.
Q: How do you pronounce Pyhäinpäivä?
A: The stress falls on the first syllable: PY-häin-päi-vä. In IPA, roughly /ˈpyhæi̯nˌpæi̯væ/. The y is the rounded vowel of German über, not English pie or pea, and each äi is one glide from ä to i rather than two separate vowels.
Sources:
- Pyhäinpäivä: https://evl.fi/perhejuhlat-ja-pyhat/pyhapaivat/pyhainpaiva/
- Pyhäinpäivä vanhainkodissa: https://kotus.fi/kolumni/pyhainpaiva-vanhainkodissa/
- Kirkkolaki 652/2023, chapter 1 section 6: https://finlex.fi/fi/lainsaadanto/2023/652
- Muistojen puutarhat 2026: https://helsinginseurakunnat.fi/tapahtumat/muistojenpuutarhat-pyhainpaivantapahtuma
- Tuhannet kynttilät syttyivät pyhäinpäivänä: https://www.helsinginseurakunnat.fi/tuomiokirkkoseurakunta/uutiset/tuhannetkynttilatsyttyivatedesmenneidenrakkaidenmuistollepyhainpaivana
- Lahden suurimman hautausmaan kynttilämeri kutistui: https://yle.fi/a/74-20192089
- Pyhäinpäivänä muistetaan kuolleita rakkaita: https://evl.fi/tiedote/pyhainpaivana-6-11-muistetaan-kuolleita-rakkaita/
Related words: kaamos, ruska, talkoot, pyhainpaiva