TASHKENT (UCAN) -- Some Catholics in Uzbekistan set aside two days each year to formally remember and pray for deceased relatives at their graves.

Valentina Azarenkova, who is among this group, was one of about 30 Catholics who took part in the Nov. 2 All Souls' Day procession at the main cemetery in Tashkent. Earlier this year she also visited the cemetery to pray for her dead relatives on a special day designated by the Russian Orthodox Church.

"All my deceased relatives were Orthodox," explained Azarenkova, who became a Catholic in 2002. The parishioner of Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, the only church in Tashkent, told UCA News she honors her departed family members according to the Catholic and Orthodox calendars. "The more we pray for the souls of others, the better," she said.

The Orthodox Church marks the ninth day after Easter as Parents' Day, the most important time for remembering one's deceased parents.

Victoria Glovatskaya, another parishioner and former Orthodox Church member, also follows both Church calendars in honoring the dead. "I feel obliged to pray for them. I get the feeling that on these special days, they wait for my visit," she told UCA News.

"The day of remembrance of all the faithful departed is not mournful but joyful for me," Glovatskaya continued. "We believe the dead will be resurrected, so we just wait for our meeting with them."

Mikhail Tolokonnikov also observes Parents' Day as well as All Souls' Day, because his wife's Orthodox relatives are buried in the cemetery. "We ease the suffering of souls when we pray for them," he told UCA News.

Russian Orthodox Church members, about 9 percent of the population, form the second-largest religious community in Uzbekistan, where 88 percent of 26.9 million people are Muslims. Practicing Catholics number about 500.

Father Stanislaw Kava, who led the Nov. 2 procession at Sergey Botkin Cemetery, named after a 19th-century Russian physician, told UCA News many Catholics observe both days of remembrance because they were brought up in the Orthodox tradition. "A man cannot just give up all the customs he was accustomed to," the Conventual Franciscan priest said.

After the procession at the cemetery, Father Kava held a Mass for the departed at Sacred Heart Church. "This commemoration expresses our belief in eternal life," he said in his homily, reminding parishioners that "praying for our departed relatives is our duty and expression of our love for them."

He also said, "It is necessary to teach young people to pray for those who died so they won't forget to commemorate their parents later."

Eight Missionaries of Charity nuns also joined the procession and Mass.

The All Souls' Day procession has been an annual feature since Tashkent Catholics organized the first one in 1992.

"Such processions were not prohibited before," Father Krzystof Kukulka, former head of the Catholic Church in the country, told UCA News. "There was just no priest to organize them. So people prayed for the deceased in a private manner," the Conventual Franciscan priest explained.

The Botkin cemetery dates to the 1850s, when the country was part of the Russian Empire. Many Russian soldiers, Catholics and Lutherans among them, were buried in it. After World War II, Czechs, Germans, Hungarians, Latvians, Lithuanians and Poles who were deported to Central Asia also were buried here.

At the center of the cemetery stands St. Alexander Nevsky Church, consecrated in 1905. Buried there are three Russian Orthodox metropolitans and dozens Orthodox priests, deacons and Religious.

During the Soviet era, the cemetery was stripped of its Christian character and opened for people other than Christians. Many famous scientists, artists and communist politicians are buried here as a result.

After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and the former Soviet Central Asian republics became independent countries, Europeans began leaving Central Asia, and the cemetery appeared to be neglected.

The 500 practicing Catholics in Uzbekistan belong to five parishes and two mission stations. Eight Missionaries of Charity nuns and 12 Conventual Franciscans -- 10 priests, two professed brothers -- serve the local Church.

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