Gone but never Forgotten

All Souls Day is a part of Filipino culture for a very long time. It is the day that the family remembers and visits their lost loved ones. It’s a yearly gathering of families too, that is why cemetery is always full of people. Eversince my mother in law died in 2013, we always had an overnight at the cemetery every All Souls Day. We always looked forward on that special day because we’ve got to spend our night with Mame. We brought a lot of foods, tents and a lot of candles to brighten up the whole night. At first I am a little hesitant to do it, since I grew up, believing that cemetery were full of ghosts and scary things. But it wasn’t at all, maybe because there were a lot of families that were doing the same thing.

So this morning, my husband informed me that my in laws were planning to visit Mame today. We were supposed to go there last Sunday, but because of the not so good weather, it was postponed. I hurriedly called Dade, my father in law and asked him what time they were planning to leave. He wasn’t sure yet, because he was waiting for his son’s confirmation, just in time Bugoy, my brother in law came and told him we were leaving at 3 in the afternoon. Dade then tells me, that he will fetched us by 2 in the afternoon, but knowing him, he might came earlier than that. My kids and I ate our lunch, and they were so excited because this is gonna be the first time they will be out of the house after a very long time. And just I expected, Dade came to fetch us 30 minutes earlier. I took a bath as fast as I can and told my kids to change their clothes too. When everything is fine, I locked the windows and door, then off we go.

We arrived first at my brother in law’s house and waited for a little while. A few minutes later, we got inside the car, and was on our way to the cemetery. There’s a little congestion on the road, that’s why I took a nap. When I woke up, we were already near the cemetery’s location. We bought flowers before we reached the gate. There wasn’t so much visitors inside. This whole pandemic changed everything when it comes to mass gathering. Very unlikely from the way it used to be. I am not complaining though, at least we can see that people were somehow following the health protocols in order to avoid getting infected by the virus.

Dade parked the car, and we got out of it, and went to Mame’s and baby Peter tomb. Baby Peter lives for only a day. He was born at 6 months old, due to some complications, he only lasted for a day and was buried next to Mame. We lighted some candles and offered prayers too. Pheng, my sister in law bought a ready to eat palabok, so that we have something to eat while we were there. While waiting for his husband, we started eating. At exactly 5 pm, Bugoy finally came. The whole place will close at exactly 6 pm so we stayed for a little longer. Today is the last day of visiting, because starting tomorrow up until November 2, cemeteries within the country will be closed in accordance with the government implementation because of covid threats.

While on our way going back home, I can’t help but to compare the present occasion from the previous one before pandemic happened. Cemetery is a lonely place but during this time of the year people who came to visit this place were happy. Happy not because they lost their loved ones, but because it’s the time of the year that you’ve got to remember and visit them. In our country, All Souls Day is like a very important day. People looked forward for this date every year.

Who would’ve thought that this kind of tradition will suddenly changed? Because mass gathering is still prohibited, visitors were also reduced. There is a time limit for visiting, and a whole lot more restrictions in order to abide with the health protocols implemented by government. With that being said, people will still find a way to never let this special day for their departed loved ones passed. Because for them this people were gone in their lives physically but never forgotten and will stay in their heart forever.

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Lead Image Source

The rest of the images were mine