How Do You Remember Those Who Passed Away?

It's All Souls Day. When I was young, my grandma would always initiate a reunion of all the living members of our family. They would make "kakanin" in the form of suman, biko, or ube and place small amounts of these food on saucers to offer to those who passed away. Sometimes, the food will also be whatever the deceased was fond of when he/she was still alive. Nanay would lead a very long novena for the deceased. She raised everyone of us to believe that if one dies, the soul goes to purgatory until it is cleansed of it's sins. The more people pray for the salvation of this soul, the faster is it's wait to go to heaven.

Now, that grandma's gone. We still make an effort to get together, cook traditional food, and pray...even though we don't have a copy of the original novena anymore. I don't think God measures anyone by the number of people who care to pray for them when they passed away, because that would not be fair to all. However, I still like to pray for the deceased members of our family, if to at least make God tell them how much they are loved and missed.

On a lighter note, it's a good thing that the Philippines is slowly acquiring the tradition of trick or treating on All Hallow's Eve. It gives my little daughter something nice to look forward to every 31st of October!

...Lilay and Ella, both eating candy at Startek's Halloween event

So how about you...what do you do during All Saints and All Souls day?

Love lots,