Some things we need to remember during Undas

Today we remember our departed loved ones by going to memorial parks and cemeteries. We light some candles, offer flowers and prayers and reminisce perhaps the memories they left in the world of the living.

As we remember our loved ones, let us also remember some things as we visit their earthly eternal resting places for the convenience and orderliness of said places. We need to consider that its not only us who will flock to these memorial sites today but also others who shall be revering their dead.

First we need to remember that memorial parks, cemeteries, columbariums, eternal gardens or whatever we may call them, are resting places of the departed. People are trooping these places to pray and honor their lost loved ones, hence, quietness and solitude is a must.

People intoxicated with alcohol regardless of their drinking capacity or soberness level should just stay home and not at memorial parks. Often, those who are drunk or intoxicated are involved in street arguments, fistfights and brawls. This day is reserved not for the drunks but for the public who are to visit their departed loved ones.

Arms and other deadly weapons are a no-no in these places. Although it’s a public knowledge that authorities do usually ban knives and other cleaning tools, some people are still quite hardheaded to bring bolos and other garden implements to cemeteries. These tools end us being confiscated later on.

People have to remember that memorial parks and cemeteries are not places for entertainment. Therefore, they should not engage themselves into videoke singing, music jams and other shows that generate wrong-timing sounds.

Playing card games and other forms gambling may be done at home and not at memorial places. Aside from remembering the dead, we need to respect them, their resting places and the day reserved for their memorial.

Although memorial sites are public places, this does not give us the right to indiscriminately throw garbage anywhere. The dead wanted their resting places to be clean too.

Memorial places although classified as parks, are not good venues for dating in this day of the year. While we may show our love to the living, we may reserve showing our love to the dead for this day.

Aside from these, there are other norms that we need to consider and observe. This is the day for the dead and so we the living should respect this as we visit their final resting places. Sooner or later, we shall join them and so we may want to be respecting the dead because we wanted to be respected as well when our time comes.

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For any comments, ideas, suggestions or opinions, text or call The Advocate at 0921-3636360 or send email at denci ous@gmai l .com

NOT all countries mark All Saints’and All Souls’Day as elaborately as we do. In majority of countries, it isn’t even a public holiday.

What happens in the Philippines combines a religious belief in the promise of an afterlife with a fondness for family gatherings, and what results is a subdued kind of fiesta. Many who visit the cemeteries bring, along with flowers and candles, their tents, plastic chairs, and enough food for themselves and relatives who may drop by during the day. Families from cultures that practice ancestor veneration go the extra mile, offering incense sticks and food on their loved ones’ graves.

More rigorous Catholics distinguish between All Saints’Day, when the prayers are supposed to be for souls that have ascended to heaven, and All Souls’Day, when the prayers are for those