trick-or-treat who?
i’m not sure just exactly when filipinos started observing halloween. i just know that it’s something i myself did not grow up with, but my niece and nephew are all giddy and excited about. “we’re going trick-or-treating, tita!” huh?
what i do associate with the end of october are what used to be our yearly trail to my parents’ provinces, to be there right in time for All Saints’ Day. laden with dozens of usualy red intricately designed candles and tubs of gladioli and baby’s breath, the family will flock to the cemetery on the first of november to light candles and put flowers on graves of long-ago dead members of the clan. don’t ask me why we went on the first and not on the second of november, the second more appropriate being All Souls’ Day. but in the philippines, you do as your elders tell you to do, and you don’t ask questions.
the public cemeteries are hot, dusty and crowded. people are tired, stressed and sometimes, lost. people take the opportunity to catch up on the lives of relatives, the grave serving as a sort of venue for family reunions. it’s not unusual for people to bring food and radio (what would pinoys be without music!). children collect the dripping from the candles and make a bet as to who can make the biggest ball of wax ever. if there’s anything that day isn’t, it was sorrowful. which is a bit ironic and ridiculous, i have to admit, but hey, what can i say? pinoys are probably just a pragmatic lot.
as i grew up, those visits became more and more sporadic because it was simply too inconvenient to go. a trip to my dad’s province at the time took about 5 hours (or maybe it just *felt* like five hours to the child i was), and to my mother’s almost double. i guess my parents got over the deaths of their own parents eventually, and didn’t feel the need to go visit their graves anymore. i don’t know. as for me, how can i grieve for the people i never really knew when they were alive? or feel connection to the relatives i meet for only a few hours ever other year?
it’s almost that time of the year again and these memories are so so far away, both in terms of time and space. suddenly, i find myself missing those trips. even though they seem a bit nonsensical, those trips hold more meaning to me than halloween ever will.
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5 Responses to “trick-or-treat who?”
October 17th, 2005 at
trick or treat!!! smell my feet!!
i have a feeling it’s not just the “trips” you are missing…..hayyyyyyy
October 17th, 2005 at
i remember bringing A to loyola on those 2 days, and he was so scandalized with the chaos he saw and told me, “you guys have no respect for the dead.”
but hey, i know that they offer food, flowers and burn scented incense in other countries, but gamble, play loud music and pitch a tent? tayo lang ba?
October 17th, 2005 at
ako, takot akong magpunta sa La Loma noon pag Nov 1 (layo ng pinupuntahan namin ano?). hindi dahil sa maraming nitso, dami kasing lasing eh. pero enjoy ako noon sa pag-ipon ng patak ng kandila. pampakintab din ng classroom floor namin yun. hehehe. pero peborit ko ang sandamakmak na sumang yakap na may kalamay-hati saka yung ube haleya (na may ipinapahid na star margarine…ay, kasarap!). yun ang hindi nawawala sa lamesa noon sa batangas. …sori po at napunta sa pagkain ang aking kuwento. hehehe, halata ba?
October 18th, 2005 at
i guess its the company of the living than of the dead that seems important to us pinoys
tama ka, nakaka-miss nga. i could never appreciate halloween talaga. i think its more of a marketing ploy eh, kasi naman why do they have to observe some pagan ritual ba? di ba mas meaningful kung alalahanin na lang natin yung mga departed loved ones natin kesa mag-costume tayo ng mumu. weird!
October 19th, 2005 at
Ruthie, you should write longer entries like this. Loved it and the memories that it brought back too.