PINOY HALLOWEEN

It’s Friday morning October 30, and we’re buying candles and flowers in order to avoid the rush hour crowd on Saturday, in preparation of All Saints and All Souls day, like most Filipinos. I grew up in that tradition, in my younger days, it was to visit the grave of our departed grandparents, and now my late mom. The routine has always been, to go to the memorial park early in the evening, light up some candles, pray, eat our dinner there, do some bonding with old family friends and relatives, who are likewise in the cemetery for the same reasons, and go home by late nightfall, it wasn’t that crowded yet. But lately a lot of things have changed, and not just the crowd, we now go early in the morning, (more to find a good parking space) pitch our tent, (yup) eat lunch and dinner there, and stay late in the night, or like others, spend the night there. Some memorial parks actually go as far as put up a Halloween festival, with dance contests, talent shows, complete with food concessionaires, and even those selling masks, and a fireworks display, late in the evening, this is probably to entice more clients, to have their umm resting place there.
But wait, isn’t Halloween an American tradition? That maybe true, however, since it just happens to precede All Saints and All Souls day, a Filipino tradition, in which Filipinos honour and remember their dead, it’s not surprising that Filipinos have adopted it as well (among other things American). And with our penchant to make every non-working holiday a celebration, it’s not surprising we have adopted and celebrated someone else’s as well.

Come Nov. 01 (All Saints) and Nov. 02), Filipinos go to the cemetery to gather, and remember their dearly departed, it’s a family affair, and for once, it’s not just the sadness of losing and missing a loved one, but a celebration of seeing those who are still alive albeit already living in other places or some other country, who have come back to visit as well. And since Filipinos traditionally celebrate it at the cemetery, Halloween gets an authentic boost when we celebrate it there as well.


(above) It’s not summer camp. It's All Saints Day and they're preparing to spend the night here at the cemetery, just like most Filipinos on Nov. 01 and 02. It’s a family affair, so everyone is in for a treat.


Aren’t day supposed to come out only at night?


The, (L-R) aswang, white lady, and kapre, creatures of Philippine folklore that have made our Halloween distinctively pinoy, no witches and broomsticks here.


Creatures whose world has turned upside-down.


not only can they get to come out at daytime, they get own the damn road as well


When you hold a Halloween dance contest on All Saints day-at the cemetery, you can be sure, the spirit of Michael Jackson lives on.


It’s a non-working holiday, and in the middle of the semestral break, come Nov.01 and 02, everyone’s’ dying to go to the cemetery


Lest we forget... it’s a time to remember our loved ones, who have gone ahead of us.


Bwa ha ha ha ha