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Souling


There is this song that plays in my mind  every Undas. It was taught when we were third graders. It was timely;that year, I with a friend sang it on an uncle's wake. That was the time I saw a family mourning. My mom's shoulder shook real hard sobbing. It was also that time  I observed ub-ubbo evident with the villagers contributing material or non-material. I met relatives I had not seen before. An uncle said, "Han kuma nga kastoy nga panagladingit santu tayo agkikita  nu di ket nu ragragsak met (It should not be these hard times we see each other but on happy days, too)." Filipinos are indeed an embodiment  of what does being close-knit mean.

On the night of every Halloween, we visit graves of friends now unseen... The following lines got blur to my memory so I substituted singing to humming.

Catholic Online makes clear that Halloween is a secular holiday on the night before November 1. It adds that All Saints' Day fall on November 1 and is a holy day of obligation while All Souls' Day on November 2 and is not a holy day of obligation. The song that I have been attuned to was wrong all along?

A priest friend said not to engage with Halloween because it is pagan. For my kid, I want her to be a kid.

So have you gone home to your province yet to repaint your departed loved ones' resting place?

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