Millions of Filipino Catholics started flocking to cemeteries on Thursday to pay respects to their dead as the country observed All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day.
The annual tradition that combines Catholic religious rites with the country’s penchant for festivity is popularly called “Undas” or Day of the Dead, a major family affair in the Philippines.
In honor of All Saints’ and All Souls’ Day on November 1 and 2, tombs are cleaned and repainted, candles are lit and flowers are offered.
Families camped overnight, pitched up tents and brought in food for a day-long All Saint’s Day picnic by the graves and tombs of their dead.
In crowded public cemeteries in Metro Manila, police confiscated alcoholic beverages and banned gambling to maintain peace and order.
Hundreds of medics and volunteers also set up field clinics to provide medical assistance. Radio reports said many had fainted due to the extreme heat in densely packed cemeteries.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, meanwhile warned the public against fake priests roaming the cemeteries and reciting prayers for unsuspecting families in exchange for monetary donations.
And for millions of Catholic Filipinos overseas who could not come home to visit their dead, the bishops put up a special portal where they could log on and request special prayers and masses.
UCA News quoted Monsignor Pedro Quitorio III, media office director of the bishops’ conference, as saying that the service is for Filipinos who work abroad for them to feel that they are also in the cemetery on All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day.
“That’s the purpose of the photos of the cemetery, so that our overseas workers can pray for their departed loved ones by just looking at the photos,” he said.
The service received 20,000 requests and garnered “positive feedback” last year from Filipinos around the world.
Sources