No pumpkins, no trick-or-treating, no costumes.
Halloween in the Philippines, as our family celebrated it when I was a young girl, was called "All Soul's Day" or Todos Los Santos on October 31st.
The first scary thing about the holiday was...the traffic jam created by all these cars lined up to go into the cemetery, Loyola Cemetery, where my mom's parents were buried. I remember the smell of candles and garlands of this fragrant flower called Sampaguita which vendors hawked along the way.
Once we got in to the cemetery, it was time to settle in for the rosary (I was Catholic then, LDS now). Usually one of the elder aunts recited it for us to follow along. It was really hard to concentrate because...
...sometimes I would see a hand rise up from behind the grave markers.
(photo by yveslecoq on Flickr)
Well, I imagined one...
It was also hard to concentrate on prayers because all around us was a big party.
Music. Loud laughter. Food spread on top of people's graves. The whole place blazed with lights from candles.
I thought then how rude of these people to not be solemn this day commemorating the dead.
But now that I think back, perhaps it was good to be celebrating the living, too!
***
If you want to see how I celebrate Halloween today, come by my scary photo post (that needs a caption) on my blog "Pink Ink".
My name is Jewel. Welcome to my blog!
As a young girl growing up in the Philippines, I always hoped for storms so ferocious that school would have to be cancelled. And when it was cancelled, my siblings and I got to stay home. Usually there was no electricity, which we called "black out".
Who cared about the storm outside when we had wax from the candle, to mold into a human shape and stick pins in...just kidding, we weren't really into voodoo. Anyway, along with the wax sculpting, we exchanged suspenseful stories, of ghosts and aswang and the mananaggal.
This blog is dedicated to that spine-tingling story, of things imagined or real. Come on in, grab a blob of wax and join me around the table.
Who cared about the storm outside when we had wax from the candle, to mold into a human shape and stick pins in...just kidding, we weren't really into voodoo. Anyway, along with the wax sculpting, we exchanged suspenseful stories, of ghosts and aswang and the mananaggal.
This blog is dedicated to that spine-tingling story, of things imagined or real. Come on in, grab a blob of wax and join me around the table.
Friday, October 31, 2008
A Grave Tradition
Posted by Jewel Allen at 6:59 AM
Labels: my childhood, Philippines
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8 comments:
OH now that is just creepy! I do not do cemeteries after dark. I can see how it could be a celebration. They didn't want them to feel left out of the festivities! :)
I'd heard about celebrations like that. always thought it was a great way to honor those who'd gone before us!! AND to make creepy places not so darned creepy!
Very scary!!
Jeannie
PS....PLEASE ditch the word verification thingy!! Thank you!
Okay, that actually sounds really cool!
What an interesting post. I would of been terrified as a child, but still would of loved doing that.
Wow, how creepy and cool!
I live around some wonderful old cemeteries and just love walking through them. IN DAYLIGHT!
Awesome post...I really enjoy learning about the traditions in other countries.
Found you through SITS.
This is fascinating! It almost sounds like Mexico's Day of the Dead.
I went to your Pink Ink post. The photo is funny, but I just cannot think of a caption good enough.
Thanks for stopping by, ladies! And jeannie, thanks to you, I turned off the word veri. :-) I was meaning to anyway...
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