Nov 2. All souls day.
A significant Catholic day of remembrance. The Philippines, being about 80% Catholic, celebrates this day vigorously, a government sanctioned holiday. People would travel back to where they grew up to spend time with family and friends, remembering those who have gone before. This usually involved spending the day at a family cemetery. Prayers would be said. Feasting would then ensue (Filipino’s turn any event into a party!) tables set up for mah-jongg and card games. Kids would be running around playing.
Family Cemetery in Amlan, Philippines
I have fond memories of this day, It was the one time a year that we would see relatives we hadn’t seen in a long time. The week leading up to all souls day, our family cemetery, which was situated near our farm in Amlan, would get a makeover. Overgrown weeds and tree debris would be cleaned up. Tombstones and graves washed and spiffed up. Tables and chairs would be set up for guests. The cemetery was located on top of a steep hill. Only a 4 Wheel drive vehicle would be able to ascend, and even then with some difficulty. Most people parked their cars at the bottom of the hill and hiked up.
Ancestry
When my husband and I travelled to the Philippines, before our kids were born, he soon found out that any visit to my Grandma always involved a tour of the family cemetery. I guess it was sort of her 3D power point presentation to reference to, as she told stories of each person that was buried there.
My great-grandparents and grandparents on my mom’s side are buried there. I assume my Mom will also want to be buried there. I haven’t given much thought yet about my own funeral plans. Perhaps I will be buried there also, eventually. It seems morbid, but it is a good thing to have a plan in place for what will happen when you move on from this world. Not leaving the burden of those decisions to the loved ones that are left behind, is a gift to them.
The Family Cemetery today. Pictures taken Nov 2, 2018 by my cousin-in-law, Percy Montenegro
Oregon, America
My grandmother, Clara May (My Dad’s Mom), died in 2002. But long before that, she had already discussed with me her desires for her funeral. She had prepaid and arranged her funeral service the way she wanted it to be done. Her casket was already picked out and burial plots reserved. It was a blessing to me to not have to make any of those decisions after she died. All I had to do was sign release papers.
Tale of Two Grandma’s
I remember both my grandmas today, all souls day. Buried on opposite ends of the world. One near our farm in the Philippines and one in Salem, Oregon. Both were stabilizing forces in my some times tumultous childhood. Both very strong women in their own way, having gone through adversity and difficulties. Those events did not crush them, they instead grew stronger from them. A lot of who I am today is directly patterned and influenced by their examples.
Future Hope
I am convinced that I will see them again in the afterlife, and so look forward to that day! Both my grandma’s had grown up in the Christian church, one Catholic and one Presbyterian. They both in their own way had a very formal and ritualistic approach to their faith. But in their later years develop a a deep personal relationship with God and a love for his word in the Bible. My grandmother in the Philippines hosted Bible studies at her home on the farm. And my American grandma and I increasingly had conversations that revolved around our shared Christian faith.
Mortality. We all face it someday…
“If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9)
