by Edwin Quinabo
Flashback to the 1960s, under the bright light of the moon, Roberta and Filomeno Pascual gather at the barrio cemetery in Ilocos Sur, Philippines, their grandchild Diana Enrico recounts the story told to her by Roberta when she was alive.
Undas, a Filipino tradition
When they lived in the Philippines, the Pascual’s cemetery gathering would take place each evening of Nov 1 where they and close-knit family paid honor to their deceased loved ones just as their ancestors have done for generations. It’s a time-honored tradition called “Undas,” the Filipino name for All Saints’ Day (Todos Los Santos) and All Souls’ Day, both Catholic religious observance days held on Nov 1 and 2 respectively that’s still practiced by millions of Filipinos in the Philippines and in the diaspora.
“Laughter and storytelling could be heard throughout the entire cemetery, my grandmother would tell us,” Diana said. “From a distance, my grandmother Roberta described how she saw rows of tombs adorned with flowers, candles, drinks. Clusters of families surrounded each tomb singing and praying.”
Diana’s mother Lodia adds, “Before the cool, breezy night gathering, earlier in the day, my mother would prepare bibingka (rice cake) ginataang (rice pudding), and suman (sticky rice) to bring to the cemetery. The desserts were not only for the living. But each sampling of deserts was placed on a plate for the deceased as some offering,” she said.
Undas’ origin
While Undas has Catholic roots, the commemoration employs a mix of native Filipino roots such as food offerings. Historians say the Undas tradition was brought over during the Spanish colonial period from Mexico when both the Philippines and Mexico were part of the Manila Galleon Trade route operated by Spanish merchants. The Mexican El Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a celebratory practice to remember the dearly departed with music and feasting, similar to the Filipino Undas.
Undas is really about family connection and cohesion
Fr. Jason Laguerta, parish priest of St. Maria Goretti Parish in UN Avenue, Manila, described Undas, “It’s not that they are dead [our departed],” he said, “because we know they have been in heaven. But we visit their final resting place because human beings that we are, we would like to always remember and we would like to give our respects, and also to connect with them even if they are long gone from us.”
Filipino culture experts say Undas ultimately is about cementing the bonds of the family unit. And family transcends time, even death itself – this is what parents are really teaching their children, the power of family unity. The tradition carries on because family is at the heart of Filipino culture.
“From the cemetery in Ilocos Sur where my grandmother Roberta honored my great grandparents, my mom and our family each year celebrate Undas to honor my grandparents Roberta and Filomeno whose remains lay at Mililani Cemetery,” Diana said. The Pascual family moved to the U.S. in 1968, taught their children to practice Undas; Lodia is now doing the same with her daughter Diana. “That’s how tradition survives,” Diana said.
“My grandparents were hardworking, brave and adaptable – traits of immigrants from the Philippines. My grandfather prioritized family above all else and spent most of his time with us when he wasn’t working. My grandmother was a devoutly religious Catholic and taught my mom to pray each night and to attend Mass,” Diana said.
Catholic Christian Tradition, Mass, Vigils and Prayers
The official Roman Catholic All Saint’s Day on Nov. 1 is a Christian solemnity dedicated to all saints, martyrs, and holy individuals both known and unknown. All Souls’ Day on Nov. 2 is called the commemoration of the faithful departed, where people remember their departed loved ones along with the souls in purgatory. However, in practice, most of the festivities typically take place on Nov. 1.
Fr. Laguerta explains, “We refer to the Communion of Saints, meaning there are among us members of the Church who are in heaven, there are among us who are preparing for heaven in purgatory, and those among us who are here in this world journeying to the end.”
This describes three of four states or places of existence to the Catholic faithful: heaven, purgatory (a transition to heaven) and the living on earth. The fourth is hell, but that’s not a consideration to families honoring their deceased loved ones on Undas.
Besides the seemingly morbid excursion to the cemetery in the evening that non-Undas practitioners might perceive of this tradition, in the day of Nov. 1, typically, Filipinos would also attend and offer Masses and vigils for the souls of their dearly departed.
“At Mililani cemetery, we start off saying a rosary, praying to Jesus and an intercessional appeal to Our Holy Mother, to keep my grandparents in the care of God in heaven and that they remain in eternal bliss and love,” Diana said. “As we reflect on my grandparents’ lives and share stories, while the overall mood is one of joy and laughter, we do shed tears, as well. The range of emotions brings us to a feeling of closeness to them.”
On All Souls’ Day it is customary that Pope Francis visits a cemetery in Rome to celebrate Mass and lead prayers for the dead. This year, Pope Francis selected the Laurentino Cemetery. All Souls Day is observed by Catholics around the world and is common specifically in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Brazil, the United States, Mexico and the Philippines.
Regional expressions of Undas
Undas in the Philippines has a few unique regional practices.
In Metro Manila, graves are adorned with huge floral arrangements. In the Ilocos, they have an atang ritual or food offering meant to appease spirits; in Bicol they call this food offering practice pagtatawid, in the Visayas it’s called pagdadayaw. While in the Cordillera, their Undas gathering is called panagdedenet. In Pampanga, villagers host a pre-Undas prayer gathering called lumang pantas. In Cebu, Cebuanos typically stay overnight at the cemetery.
In Negros Occidental, their offering called pang-alay typically includes a miniature altar created atop of or in front of a tombstone. In Zamboanga, they create paper flowers called flores para los Muertos. In Iloilo, they believe their offerings called palihi will bring good luck and peace to the family. In Samar and Leyte, they practice pangalag-kalag or “soul-calling” in which the names of deceased are called out by relatives. In Bohol, they do a reenactment of saints’ lives which is called tigkalalag.
In the Philippines Undas (Nov 1 and 2) is a national holiday designed to ensure that these festivities dear to the communities and families can be properly observed.
Sense of community, songs, gifts
Socorro Maniquis Painter, Livermore, California, describes her Undas experiences while she lived in the Philippines. She said of the two days, more significance is placed on All Saints’ Day than All Souls’ Day because everyone likes to think of their deceased relatives as saints. Others say the celebrations are really seen as one and that choosing Nov 1 is based on practicality because the next day becomes a rest day before resuming the work week.
Painter was born in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija but spent the first five years of her life in Rizal, Nueva Ecija, her mother’s hometown. Rizal is located near Pantabangan where she has many relatives. Rizal and Pantabangan have become more prominent now that they are located on the national highway to Baler.
“All our relatives live in Rizal and my great grandparents and grandfather, and great uncles and great aunts are buried at the Rizal town cemetery. I remember when I was young, we would go to Rizal early in the morning and spend the whole day at the Rizal cemetery. We brought picnic lunches. We also brought big candles that lasted the whole day. The children love to make balls out of the candle drippings.
“My grandmother knows everyone in the cemetery. Most of the people are our relatives. We go around blessing everyone’s hands (called mano in Tagalog) in the cemetery. The whole thing has an atmosphere of community and togetherness. Some of these relatives we only see once a year at the cemetery on Nov 1,”,” Painter recalls.
Undas is often a reunion to many Filipino families that find attending this family function takes precedence over others that they can skip over. Some historians believe Undas as a Catholic import to the Philippines matched up well with the already existing indigenous practice of ancestor veneration of the dead that’s typically found throughout North and Southeast Asia.
On the evening of All Saints’ Day, Painter and family would visit relatives’ homes for dinner and rice cakes. “Everyone has a special rice cake. My mother’s aunts were known for their special rice cakes because they grew up in Bulacan and learned how to cook all these special rice cakes or kakanin in Tagalog. It felt like a fiesta. Then the children would go around the neighborhood doing a Filipino version of trick or treat but no costumes. It was just neighborhood children going around asking for money. It is called nangangaluwa (souls wandering around asking for money).”
Painter said the children would sing this song while wandering around:
Kaluluwa’y Dumaratang (the souls are passing by)
Sa tapat ng durungawan (in front of the windows)
Kampanilya`y tinatangtang (we are ringing the bells)
Ginigising ang may bahay (waking up the residents of the house)
Kung kami po`y lilimusan (if you are planning to give us money)
Dali-dalian po lamang (please hurry)
Baka kamiý magpagsarhan (they may close on us)
Ng pintuan ng kalangitan………(the doors of heaven)
“When I was young, meeting the relatives in Rizal Cemetery gave me a sense of belonging. Since we have moved to Cabanatuan City, seeing all these relatives on November 1st in Rizal made me so happy,” Painter said.
Today her family continues the Undas tradition in the U.S. where she visits her parents and grandmother’s tomb at Skylawn in San Mateo, California. They have a special program at Skylawn on All Saints’ Day – a Mass and people wear costumes for Dia Del Muerto. She said they have a taco truck that day to accommodate the multitudes of visitors. Like in the Philippines, Painter said they bring flowers to their deceased relatives.
Interestingly, Mexicans that originally brought over Undas centuries ago to the Philippines, have their descendants – Mexicans and Filipinos – practicing their shared traditions alongside each other in communities throughout the U.S., which explains the taco truck at Skylawn.
Painter shares fond memories of her family buried at Skylawn. “My grandmother was 80 years old when she died in 1994. She raised all of us eight siblings when my mother went to the United States. She was a very special woman. Beside her is our long-time maid who took care of my mother and her siblings and stayed with us until her death. She never married. My parents are also buried at the same place. My mother came to the U.S. in 1969. My siblings and I thank her for all the sacrifices she made so we could have a better life in the U.S.”
She adds, meeting her siblings at Skylawn reminds her of how long ago it has been the gatherings in Rizal cemetery. “Here in San Mateo, California, we are doing another version of that get together in Rizal, Nueva Ecija.”
Undas and coping with grief
For families who are suffering from fresh losses of a dearly departed, Undas can be a healing experience, mental health professionals say.
Dr. Ingrid Reyes, a psychologist, believes Undas helps families deal with grief. It’s a celebration of life amid loss, but it also creates a space for mourning and emotional support, she says. “By coming together as a family [for Undas], not only do you keep your loved one’s memory alive, but you also strengthen bonds, promoting emotional healing, and resilience. Acceptance is crucial. It doesn’t mean you’re happy about the loss, but acknowledging the pain allows you to start moving forward.”
She says shared grief can be transformative to healing. The exchange of stories during Undas strengthens the feeling of unity and a feeling that they are not alone in their grief.
Lodia said when her father passed away, it was difficult, but she and her siblings were comforted that their mother was around who they saw as an extension of their father. “It is easier after the first passing of a parent. But when the last parent dies, it’s like you are an orphan, no matter how old you are. It’s life changing and one of the major passages we go through in our lifetime,” she said.
Painter said her mother died on Sept 11, 2002, the first-year anniversary of 9/11. “When she died, it felt like I lost an entire month. I felt that I slept in September and woke up and it was already October. I was not sure how my children went to school, and so forth. It was a big shock to me. Since I was the oldest of eight children, I had to make all the arrangements for the funeral, the service, the internment, and the reception after the internment. I did all these tasks on autopilot, doing everything like a robot. It was very hard to lose one’s mother even though we knew time was running out because she had cancer.”
Importance of perpetuating Undas
Lodia, Diana and Painter attest to Undas as being a part of their healing process.
“Undas is a smart cultural-religious tradition because of the psychological and emotional support that comes of it. I don’t have children of my own yet, but I think when that time comes when my parents pass on, I’m certain that it will be something I want my children to value and practice,” Diana said.
Lodia believes beneath the cultural and religious expressions of Undas, there is spirituality in it. “Anything that brings focus to God, prayers, the soul and the afterlife, that is spirit-based as opposed to most of our daily tasks that are worldly-oriented. In Undas, we look to our own mortality as we celebrate our deceased ones. And there is a hope that in the afterlife, we will be reunited with those we lost to earthly death. Undas is a two-day break from the mundane and instead we embrace spirituality in its place. This is meaningful and is worth becoming a lasting Filipino tradition. It is that hope of reunification that we find joy and why we celebrate with rice cakes, food, prayer and songs. Undas is that space between our time left here to when we are united with loved ones in heaven,” Lodia said.
Painter said, “Undas is important for the next generation to continue the Filipino cultural-religious traditions. That’s why I bring my children to the cemetery and what I let them know when we observe the death anniversary of my parents and my grandmother. In that way they will continue to observe the traditions even when I am gone.”
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