EVERY All Souls' Day and All Saints' Day, we are reminded of our culture as Filipinos remembering the dead. We go to cemeteries to light a candle and offer flowers or spend the day with our family members beside their grave.
We also prepare food suited for the time and put it on the altar with a candle and offer prayers if visit to the cemetery would be impossible like this time of pandemic.
It is not discouraged to remember our departed loved ones everyday, but what makes our yearly celebration significant is we allocate a day to voluntarily remember the dead. There is even a moment that we feel lacking or empty to have missed joining the majority of our people in this celebration.
Many of our friends who are working in big cities like Manila and Cebu would orient themselves to go home in the provinces for vacation during this time of the year. Like Christmas, this celebration for the dead is really a part of our lives as Filipinos.
To me, this implies more than just preserving our culture. In both, on the macro view and personal note, it highlights our identity as Filipinos being together and the role of death in one's resolve in life.
The macro view of this cultural practice makes us reflect on the role of our solidarity. This is reflected on the show of our cohesiveness in times of trials like the coronavirus pandemic, where Filipinos are standing resilient, united and full of hope that someday we will all survive the test of time.
This also reflects the emotional side of Filipinos. Try to ask one about a family member who has died and he will take you to his emotional state.
Despite the dynamics of life, we attached ourselves to the family as a social institution. And as part of our beliefs, we charge for help to our dead relatives by keeping watch of us and helping us in whatever endeavors we pursue.
Also, it makes sense to think of death as imminent and life is temporary. Nobody stays in this world forever no matter what status we have in life. Thus, scarce possessions like wealth, prestige and power could just vanish away in a snap.
I had the opportunity to exchange thoughts on the unpredictability of life with my friend and mentor, Dr. Jay Estrellas, vice president for Academic Affairs of the Carlos Hilado Memorial State College (CHMSC). We were reflecting on the death of our friend and CHMSC’s former president, Dr. Renato “Nats” Sorolla.
The CHMSC community, through the leadership of President Nomer Mangulabnan, mourned the death of Dr. Sorolla. Dr. Mangulabnan, prior to his election as president, served as Sorolla’s executive assistant and vice president for academic affairs.
Sir Nats, as they call him, had a fulfilled life in the academe especially when he fully served his two-term presidency of CHMSC. In the remaining months while in office, he had been on leave for medical reasons. Recently, it was known that he was sick and had finally rested.
Dr. Estrellas and myself could only affirm the uncertainty of the future and everyone’s vulnerability on what lies ahead. While we’ve agreed Covid-19 is real, death is no question, could knock at anyone’s door any time we do not know when.
Taking its function, death is the best reference point for one’s resolve in life. When you think you’ve had everything for now, then resolve that you will not have it in the afterlife. When you think there is suffering while you’re alive, believe that there is a way out just like feeling the hope in fighting the coronavirus.
And that’s it. We couldn’t be prouder of our earthly possessions. But choices on how we want to be remembered by those around us.