It's All Saints' Day. Without looking at the calendar, there are several clues: the gray sky, the florists selling colorful arrangements in the parking lot of the Vaufleury cemetery in Laval (Mayenne) and the crowd walking between the graves. It's a little after 11 a.m. this 1is November 2024 and many of them are already heading towards the graves of their loved ones.
Jérôme Marteau, florist in Loiron-Ruillé, is a regular at the cemetery. I come to all Saints' Day and Palm Sundays
he slips into the middle of a bed of chrysanthemums. I have between 150 and 200
. This remains the star flower of All Saints' Day even if it also offers cyclamen and heather. The florist knows the habits of visitors from 1is November at the cemetery: There are those who come from the morning until 12:30 p.m. then it starts again from 3 p.m. after lunch.”
At the end of this morning, there is Martine (she does not wish to give her last name) who is a little lost. The septuagenarian searches for her mother in the maze of tombs. I never know how to find myself here,
she smiled. But I don't want to ask. I look at the names, the ages of death, the tombs with flowers or those that look abandoned. It’s sad to see these signs.”
She points to a small sign that says This concession has expired, please contact the town hall – civil status service
. According to our information, city services filed 350 last spring. Descendants now have two years to renew these concessions.
Bernard Laurent-Bellue cleans one of their family's three graves with his daughter, Astrid. We maintain family memories
explains Astrid. His father came from Paris, where he lives. But I was born in Laval”,
he specifies.
“People celebrate All Saints’ Day more in the provinces than in Île-de-France”
Astrid continues: People celebrate All Saints’ Day more in the provinces than in Île-de-France.”
In the stone, we can distinguish a few names. Bernard Laurent-Bellue is descended in particular from Jean-Baptiste-Alfred Pommerais who rests here and who was mayor of Loiron in 1872 (commune which became Loiron-Ruillé in 2015). We had ancestors who were very active in local life in Mayenne,”
continues Bernard Laurent-Bellue.
The 1is As November falls on a Friday, the cemetery will certainly not be empty over the weekend.
