ON Friday and Saturday, we commemorate the lives of our departed loved ones. It is an occasion that is traditionally observed with a trip to the cemeteries or memorial parks. The trip, in many cases, may take long hours if our loved ones’ resting places happen to be in another part of the country.
The practice often begins on the eve of, or even days before, All Saints’ Day, when tombstones are cleaned and repainted, the immediate area around them is swept, and the grass is cut. On the day itself, a public holiday, the country grinds to a halt as whole families stop their daily routines, gather around the graves, lay fresh flowers, light votive candles, pray for their souls, and share stories about their loved ones. Cars line the streets going to cemeteries, enough food and drinks for the whole day, tents, chairs, and even couches and foldable beds are brought for the all-day observance. Priests say masses for the dead and go around to pray for the salvation of the souls of the departed upon request. Often, the celebration extends to the next day, All Souls’ Day.
Some of these practices are criticized as trivial, but on the contrary, they are rooted in ancient religions. From ancient times, sacrificial offerings have consisted of various fruits, flowers and vegetables. The Greeks sacrificed animals such as goats or cattle, sometimes eating the sacrifice in a “celebratory meal,” as we do now. We may not be aware of their origins, but it does not follow that these customs are devoid of meaning.
All Saints’ Day is also an occasion when overseas Filipino workers, including seafarers, feel more intensely than usual the isolation and loneliness of working away from home.
For them, the “Undas Online” website is available to accept prayer requests for departed loved ones. The website was initiated by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), originally to make it possible for Filipinos to pay tribute to their departed loved ones at the height of the pandemic in 2020 when cemeteries nationwide were closed as part of a safety measure against the deadly virus.
The platform now has new features that give Filipinos overseas the opportunity to have the total Undas virtual experience. They include live online Masses streamed from different places of worship, audio and video reflections on the meaning and significance of the occasion, prayer requests, petitions, and requests for Mass, as well as virtual candle lighting. The practice of lighting candles, according to English writer Caitlin Matthews, is “to welcome the loved ancestors and to shine upon the path of the unquiet dead to bless them on their way.” This is an ancient practice surrounding All Saints’ Day, known as Samhain (SOW’en), which is based on the belief that on that day, the world of the living and the ancestral realms overlapped.
Now that the world is safer, however, the faithful are encouraged to go to Church and offer Mass for our beloved dead. Bishop Broderick Pabillo said that the Holy Eucharist is the best prayer that we can offer to our dearly departed.
The more popular, because more fun, practice among the young is the annual custom of trick-or-treating when they go around from door to door for candies and other treats or otherwise be at the receiving end of some mischief. In some parts of the country, petty misdemeanors are said to be committed against inhospitable residents. Called “nangangaluluwa,” the practice encourages mischief, such as stealing neighbors’ chickens or other pets.
Matthews traces the great fear that many still have about this night to such beliefs, which are even encouraged by the “commercialism of modern Hallowe’en, which emphasizes ghoulish fascination with ghosts rather than communal reverence for the beloved ancestors.” She urges us to remember our own ancestors with love, with a prayer that all unquiet souls be led to blessedness and peace, with a hope that this sacred festival may be restored to its former respect as a time of communal honoring.”
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