For eight years, Robert Kowalski documented the Smolensk monthly commemorations, which unexpectedly became a forum for direct meetings between the then state authorities and citizens. The laying of wreaths and street prayers by those in power were protected by snipers, anti-terrorist units, the SOP (Government Protection Bureau) and mounted police. Jarosław Kaczyński's antagonists were people associated in small groups or even acting alone. On the one hand, we have a real human tragedy here, and on the other, a parallel reality of political marketing. Over the years, the nature of the titular rituals has gradually changed: from solemn rituals serving to consolidate power to grotesque combinations after its loss.