UNDAS 2009: A Filipino tradition to remember

If the western world may call it a halloween celebration, Filipinos celebrate this occassios in honoring the dead. Every Novermber 1 and 2 of the year, Filipino families went to the cemetery and visit the tombs of their departed love ones. Often the occasion is treated as a reunion or banquet, with families bringing food and drink and camping out all day or even overnight. It is an official, state-recognized holiday, so people get leave from school or work on these days.

This year,the celebration was riddled by calamities and majority of the people who lived in the suburban Metro Manila and parts of northern Philippines suffered from the wrath of typhoon "Ondoy" and "Pepeng" and just recently, typhoon "Santi" triggered strong winds at the eve of "Undas". Nevertheless, the celebration goes on and it does not prevent every Filipino families from visiting the cemeteries and continue the strong ties that most of us continue to savor for years.