Grabarka - Poland / 1999 - 2003
 
Arrival on the holy mountain (Grabarka) of the Orthodox in eastern Poland. The pilgrims fall to their knees and slide around the wooden church, singing and praying. Every year on the night of August 18th to 19th, tens of thousands of pilgrims from eastern Poland, Belarus and Ukraine celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ on the holy mountain in the middle of a forest of crosses. People believe in the power of the holy spring at the foot of the mountain. Hundreds of handkerchiefs hang between the trees. It is customary to wash oneself with the handkerchiefs in the holy water to heal oneself from illness. In the nearby cemetery, a mass is said for the dead at midnight, candles light up the darkness.