In light of the fact that the Philippines are so Americanized, it was in no way surprising to discover that Hallowe'en is celebrated so widely here. However, with the ghoulish masks intermittently still on show the following day to help spice up the occasion, it was certainly intriguing to experience the celebratory manner in which absolutely all Pinoys honour the Dead on All Saints Day which follows on 1st November.
The first thing I wasn't prepared for was the sheer volume of traffic out on the streets. Any means of transport was permissible to get you and your loved ones to the cemetery and it felt as if the entire locality was congregating in one place when we reached the entrance to the burial ground.
Large groups of people were gathered around gravestones everywhere you looked. Invariably, the locals were seated, not just around the tomb, but in some places actually on top of it.
The ritual appears to follow a common pattern. At first, flowers and candles are offered to the departed as a sign of respect.
When the whole family is present, a feast begins to celebrate your loved one's life, during which you honour their memory by serving their favourite food.
As a family-oriented society, all generations and branches of the family are expected to attend.
Some individual mourners honour their departed loved ones by exhibiting the manner in which they died.
Other mourners erect brightly coloured parasols and spend the day playing cards.
Children from different branches of the family use the opportunity to enjoy each other's company.
Yet however you chose to spend the day, eventually you are forced to succumb to one of the many vendors who trawl the cemeteries in search of potential clients. The blistering heat ensures that some will resort to any means possible in a futile attempt to combat the soaring temperatures.
Once you're in the cemetery, the only way to leave it is by tricycle. There are simply hundreds of them clogging the roads between the individual graveyards and by-passing them in a car is simply not an option.
It is well worth the short journey by trike to visit the public cemetery. Despite the arguable discrepancy in graveside opulence, the air of celebration tangible there is essentially no different to the almost carnival-like atmosphere in evidence all around the private plots just a few hundred metres down the road.
Before the actual day, I couldn't conceive of what it would actually feel like to spend several hours celebrating with a graveside picnic in a cemetery. Having done so, I have to confess that it was a touching experience I feel privileged to have shared.
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