Undas is coming

here, some in Manila are starting to celebrate Halloween, but here in the provinces, the big holiday is "Undas": all Saints day.

We go to the graves of our beloved dead, clean up the graves, light candles and place flowers, and then stay to picnic. We also go to church for mass (something I might skip, since in the heat I tend to faint in church).

The cemeteries are packed with visitors, and there are usually vendors there to sell you stuff you forgot (extra candles, snacks and soft drinks and beer, and there are toys for the kids who tend to get bored).

Everyone goes home to their home villages to do this, so the roads are packed, and the police advertise which roads are open and which ones are one way, and again insist that beer in cemeteries is forbidden.

there will be a lot of security out there: terrorism is still a threat, and when lots of folks are crowding on buses etc. you can see the possible problems. And of course, the roads are packed.

I am still a bit sick, so I had the maid and two of her relatives tidy up Lolo's gravesite, and we will go there today to place candles and flowers. November 1 is the big day, but usually it is so crowded you have to walk from the main road, and it is too far for me to do that in the heat.

If you have read my previous rants, you know Catholics see Jesus and heaven as part of an extended family. So family members who have died are still part of the family, and are concerned about us and pray for us here on earth.

 The Church traditionally has three divisions: Those on earth, those in heaven, and those in purgatory. So praying for the loved ones is a way to keep the lines of communication open with those who have gone ahead of us, and if they are in purgatory, a way to help them get out and go to heaven a bit faster.

Purgatory has a bad rap among the Protestants, who point out that it is not biblical (unless your bible has Maccabees in it). However, it is a human belief that there is more than a binary heaven and hell, so that those who don't outright reject God and chose hatred will have a chance to clean up their act get to heaven: meaning those of us with usual sins of weakness will have a chance to make up for it.

The traditional fires of art are probably metaphorical: the more modern see it as facing the harm you have done to yourself and others, and then repenting and reconciling with those we hurt.

So here those beliefs are mixed with the traditional Asian ideas of honoring one's ancestors and offering them gifts and prayers for their souls.

Full explanation here.

If this sounds similar to the Mexican Day of the Dead, you are probably right. But Buddhists and Confucian customs do the same thing, although usually in the spring.