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For Christians, the festival marks the eve of the All Saint's Day feast but it has older, pagan roots, in the Gaelic festival Samhain.

Residents went on with their scheduled celebration of a saint’s day over the weekend, dancing to a live band as flurries of ash fell, coating the streets with what looked like a soft dusting of snow.

The priest said that while attendance at Mass on All Saint’s Day is required of Catholics, Day of the Dead celebrations are optional.

Requests for the patron saint's day to be made a public holiday have been rejected by the UK government.

People lit candles on All Saint’s Day, a religious holiday when Poles visit cemeteries and mourn the dead.