For All Saints Day, many people go with their families to the cemetery to pay tribute to their loved ones. For the youngest, it is also a way to get to know his ancestors. Comment on factual images interspersed with a micro-sidewalk of several people going to the cemetery (Sandrine LOCQUENEUX, Christel and Carla HUMBERT and Sylvie LECOCQ). )
During this very sunny All Saints' weekend, the cemeteries have regained their colours. As every year, many French people paid tribute to their dead. Comment on factual images, micro-sidewalk and interview Franck LAUD (florist).
In France, for All Saints' Day, horticulturists have to meet an important demand for chrysanthemums. This perennial plant is resistant to the cold and is used to flower cemeteries. Back to the origin of this tradition. Comment on factual images and archive images (INA) interspersed with a micro-sidewalk and interviews of Marc DARROU and Jean-Marc PEYRE (horticulturists).
Autumn atmosphere in an undergrowth. A burial. In a fields, graves of French soldiers. Military cemetery whose white cross graves are surmounted by a helmet. Sweating deposit in Paris on the slab of the unknown soldier at the Arc de Triomphe.
La Toussaint: the cemetery of Le Calvaire in Montmartre. Reportage in the smallest cemetery of Paris (and certainly one of the smallest in France) where apparently the keys are very important... Comment on factual images and interviews Patrick BAPPOO (guardian of Montmartre Cemeteries) and Father Jean VOUZELLAUD (parish priest St-Pierre de Montmartre).
For Catholics, flowering the graves of the deceased is priceless. It is one of the things that counts, even in times of crisis. It is a symbolic gesture that many are still very attached to. Two out of three Frenchmen would go to the cemetery at La Toussaint, a manna for chrysanthemum producers and a strong sign that certain traditions remain unshakable. Comment on factual images, micro-sidewalk and interview of a horticulturist.
The essential flowers of All Saints are of course chrysanthemums. But many today choose other varieties, such as thoughts or cyclamen, to bloom the graves. Production of chrysanthemums is down compared to previous years. Reporting in Rungis, at the flower market. Comment on factual images, micro-sidewalk and interviews Louis STAMENS (horticulturist), Rodolphe LEDOC and Bekky ZIDANE (florists).
Near Bordeaux in the Réole (33), the parish priest decided to celebrate in a single office the mass of Toussaint and those of the dead in order to gather together all the parishioners who sometimes lack assiduity. Comment on factual images and interview with Father André MARCEAU (parish priest of La Réole) and micro-sidewalk.