More people lighting digital candles on the Feast of All Saints

Last year, over 52,000 digital candles were lit on the Church of Sweden’s Prayer Web, including 14,500 during the Feast of All Saints. This number has grown steadily in recent years, becoming an important complement to in-person visits to churches and cemeteries.

“When we light candles, we light up the darkness for each other,” says Charlotte Frycklund, online priest at the Church of Sweden. “The digital candles do this in their own way, and the physical ones in theirs.”

You can light a digital candle and write a prayer on the Prayer Web. Many people use the service to express their joy, concern or sense of loss. Almost 29,000 prayers were written in 2024, a clear increase compared to previous years. The candle or prayer can be linked to the church of your choice, a particular theme or placed on a map, for example in a cemetery or other place of special significance.

The tradition of lighting physical candles in cemeteries remains strong. According to surveys conducted by the Church of Sweden, around 35 percent of Swedes visit a cemetery during the Feast of All Saints, making it the feast day on which the largest number of people visit a church.

Tip:

If you are unable to visit the graves of your relatives, there are several different options:

• Light a digital candle and choose on the map where to put it
• Light a candle at home
• Light a candle in a nearby church or garden of remembrance

The Feast of All Saints in figures

• Digital candles in 2024: 52,625 in total, of which 14,500 during the Feast of All Saints
• Prayers on the Prayer Web in 2024: 28,707
• Percentage of Swedes who visit a cemetery during the Feast of All Saints: about 35%

Link to the Church of Sweden’s Prayer Web