All Souls’ Day in the Philippines

For as long as I could remember, All Souls’ Day is both a significant holiday meant for honoring our dead as well as time spent catching up with our families.

Every year and as this day approaches, we experience the hustle and bustle of preparations that go from flowers, to food, to road preparations and more.

We Filipinos take this yearly tradition very seriously, and despite the traffic or the flooding of people in cemeteries, we never cease to neglect the obligations we have for our dearly departed.

Going to the cemetery was a yearly tradition for us in my home. It was a bit like Christmas in terms of preparations and gathering since I come from a huge family.

Stories always abound in the family - the “remember when” of our lost loved ones was and still is a fond topic.

As for the menu, food was always a must as well during this time. After all, being together in my family was always something to look forward to. What to eat while we gather and honor our dead was always part of the “ceremony” as our memory of them always include their favorite dishes.

To date, I still see my father organize all the candle and flower buying to be laid in the grave of my grandparents. It hasn’t changed since I was a little girl.

My mother and her siblings always made the yearly roundup of family to also pay our respects. I suppose the value in such a tradition will always be an integral part of our memory and passing them on to the next generation has become easier especially since our children witness all of  these for themselves.

Looking at how our government responds to “undas” in terms of effective preparations clearly shows that our traditions are still strong and intact.

Culture is truly binding. It is what defines us as a people and experiencing this year in and year out only shows that culture is a strong force that brings us together. From my point of view, culture is something we can truly capitalize on to further bring unity among people.

Walking the crowded paths in cemeteries always made me feel like I was part of a multitude of people with one valuable purpose at hand. On this day we were one in tradition and it was all about honor.

Where we come from or how society sees us has very little bearing as what matters is the fact that we are all there for one purpose. Imagine putting such a purpose into all other factors that could speed up progress altogether.

We could very well move mountains. I suppose these are things that cross my mind as well during such occasions. The Filipino is one that holds our traditions in high esteem. It is a “given” for us with no questions asked.

Honoring the dead may entail a variety of preparations but one thing is certain, it is the respect that we give to them that “knits us” together and keeping our cultural heritage whole is a great reflection of a strong nation.