Or is it?
The Filipino people observe All Saints Day as a national holiday and families all over visit the graves of their ancestors to gather, pray, and do a bit of cleaning. (Apparently the dead are no better at keeping their grave sites clean than I am at ironing.) Anyway, this results in cemeteries overflowing with the living. It is almost a carnival atmosphere outside the cemeteries as umpteen dozen vendors await the crowds, ready to sell the hungry visitors all varieties of food and beverage from their stands, carts, tricycles, and tents.
Here's some pictures from the day's events:
Before going to the cemetery we needed to eat. Edson's Tita Syl cooked up a feast for the whole clan.
His freshly-shaven elder brother Ed did a little cutting-up.
We don't know if was something he ate, the playing with knives, or his new look, but Ed ended up wearing a camera on his head after lunch.
You gotta admit, a camera hat's a unique look and not an easy one to pull off. But hey, no one said it was easy being eccentric.
After dessert we headed to the cemetery! (exclamation point?)
This is the scene that greeted us as we began the few blocks walk from the car:
Remember those provincial trannies (TVs) I mentioned a couple months ago? No? Well, I haven't figured out how to link blog entries, so go back to the beginning of September and read about it. It's somewhere in there.
Anyway, here's a couple at the gate to the cemetery.
Once inside, amidst the masses of living humanity, we could see what the real purpose was in being there.
The dead. The past.
Dates of birth. The past.
Dates of death. The past.
Respect for those who have come before. Learning both from their successes and failures. Celebrating the good of the past and working to avoid repeating its evils. This is the present and, most importantly, the future.
As I said, this blog entry is quite overdue.
No comments:
Post a Comment