Filipina Soul

For two days in November, cemeteries around the Philippines will be packed with people – both living and dead. Nope, it’s not a belated Halloween celebration.

November 1 and 2 mark All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days, when the nation gets a mandatory non-working holiday to remember the day of the dead, in festive, Thanksgiving-like family reunions.

Scattered families all over the country travel back to their hometowns to be reunited with relatives, the deceased included. The most pack places in town? The local cemeteries.

Relatives would gather in the cemeteries and pay homage to their dead. Traditionally, the tombs are cleaned, and prayers, candles and flowers are offered on the gravesite and in the churches. But what sets these days apart from a funeral or a death anniversary is the festive atmosphere everywhere.

You heard it! Walking through the cemeteries is like going to a fair. At each gravesite, families will be pitching tents and setting the above-ground tombs called mausoleums with food to overflowing. Music will be blaring from stereos, and children will be playing. And yet there is nothing sacrilegious about any of it. For most Filipinos, it’s our way of remembering the good and memorable times with the departed. Any other times of visiting their gravesites, and especially on the death anniversary, and the atmosphere turns to solemn, mournful remembrance.

But on these two days, The Day of the Dead is like thanksgiving. Really.

Just watch this home-vid…

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Tags: november 1, day of the dead, all saints’ day, november 2, all souls day, filipino, traditions, Catholic

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