Letters

November 1-4, 2007 Holiday

We spent the long weekend Halloween holidays in the province. We had a memorable celebration as we took part in the various family traditions.

Nov 1-
Like most Filipinos, we practice the annual tradition of praying the novena for the souls of all the dearly departed family and friends. The novena is done in Visayan dialect and favorite foods of our dearly departed are offered during the prayer. Since Lola Day was entertaining some childhood friends who are on vacation and Lolo Nick was busy preparing food for the after-prayer meals, it was only Tita Fran, Mama, you and Kuya Kryl who joined the prayer.

When we were kids and your great grandparents were alive, these times were like grand family reunions. All of us kids, cousins and neighbors are usually in attendance during the novena. Not really for the prayer but to be able to share in the offered food which is served right after the novena…when all the ‘souls’ have supposedly eaten their share. Those were such happy and fun times. We would then carve out faces from papaya fruits, put candles inside and strategically place them along dark paths. These were our version of the American pumpkins. And then, we’d regale each other with ghost stories while we wait for our “victims” - the young, hapless neighborhood children and scare them away.

November 2 –
As is again a family tradition, all our relatives gathered in the cemetery on All Soul’s Day to pray and light candles for our dearly departed. Some relatives brought food which was shared with everybody for lunch. You had fun playing with your cousins while Mama was busy sharing stories with the older members of our clan.

Later, Lolo Nick bought pinipig crunch and drumstick to ward off the heat. These were our “special” treats when we were growing up and Lolo Nick wanted you to be part of it, too.

November 3 –
We visited Lolo Zosing and Lola Cande and we spent the entire morning with them at home. I was glad that you are close to them despite the fact that you don’t get to spend a lot of time together. You happily obliged when they asked you to sing, recite a poem and dance. Your folks were very happy, Vince.

In the afternoon, we visited Lolo Abeth and Lola Dickie’s family. We were amazed because you ate all the food that they served us. Mama had fun talking to your tita’s, too.

Afterwards, Mama met up with her childhood friends at the old resto which used to be our hang out when we were younger.

November 4
After hearing mass, we all headed to Lolo Nick’s farm so that Mama can be oriented with the boundaries of the land which will eventually be handed down to us. Since the farm is just adjacent to Lolo Sar’s farm, we also visited them. You were happy to see their birds, chickens, pigs and horse. You loved feeding the turkeys and chickens, too.

It was a memorable trip again. We hope to have more of these.