PHILIPPINES: Filipino families visit graves across the country to remember deceased loved ones on All Souls Day
Record ID:
858137
PHILIPPINES: Filipino families visit graves across the country to remember deceased loved ones on All Souls Day
- Title: PHILIPPINES: Filipino families visit graves across the country to remember deceased loved ones on All Souls Day
- Date: 1st November 2011
- Summary: MANILA, PHILIPPINES (NOVEMBER 1, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF VISITORS ENTERING CEMETERY VISITORS HOLDING FLOWERS VISITORS WALKING INSIDE CEMETERY WIDE VIEW OF GRAVES PILED IN COLUMNS BOY ARRANGING FLOWERS NEAR TOMBSTONE WOMEN LIGHTING CANDLE NEAR TOMBSTONE MAN PAINTING LETTERS ON TOMBSTONE VARIOUS OF PEOPLE HAVING PICNIC NEAR GRAVES (SOUNDBITE) (Filipino) CEMETERY VISITOR GONZALO REYES SAYING: "It is our father who is buried here. Every year, we celebrate here, we have a picnic together. Yesterday, we were here already, and we said some prayers." CEMETERY VISITOR JONAS NABONG WITH FLOWERS WALKING INSIDE CEMETERY PEOPLE PLAYING CARD GAMES NABONG LAYING FLOWER ON TOMBSTONE CLOSE VIEW OF FLOWER AND LIGHTING CANDLE (SOUNDBITE) (Filipino) CEMETERY VISITOR JONAS NABONG SAYING: "There's nothing much to offer them, except for flowers and candles. In this way, they can know that we remember them." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE HAVING PICNIC NEAR TOMBSTONE ELDERLY COUPLE IN FRONT OF TOMBSTONE WIDE VIEW OF CEMETERY
- Embargoed: 16th November 2011 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Philippines, Philippines
- City:
- Country: Philippines
- Topics: Religion,Religion
- Reuters ID: LVAC2PFQDH70XPVSRR4YSEH3NAGW
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: Tens of thousands of families crowded cemeteries across the Philippines on Tuesday (November 1) to remember their departed loved ones on the Day of the Dead.
The festival, also known as All Saint's Day or All Soul's Day, is little known in Asia but widely celebrated in the predominantly Catholic countries around the world during Nov.1 and Nov. 2, respectively.
The day of the dead has its roots on the Hispanic belief that the dead return their grave once each year to visit their loved ones.
In the Philippines, where Catholics comprise more than 80 percent of the population, All Saint's and All Soul's are public holidays.
People consider it an obligation to go to the cemetery, and some families hop from one to the next to visit the graves of several departed relatives.
In Manila's North Cemetery, the largest in the Philippine capital, people lit candles and prayed to the tombs of their kin, while spending the day with their families.
Families usually bring food to the cemetery and lay out mats on the grass, to hold picnics beside the graves of their loved ones.
Gonzalo Reyes and his family has been coming to North Cemetery for years to remember their late father.
"It is our father who is buried here. Every year, we celebrate here, we have a picnic together. Yesterday, we were here already, and we said some prayers," he said.
Some play sports or card games to pass the time, and do not leave the cemetery until late evening.
Outside the cemetery walls, vendors thronged the side streets and made good business selling candles and flowers.
"There's nothing much to offer them, except for flowers and candles. In this way, they can know that we remember them," said Jonas Labong, who was visiting the grave of his nephew.
Authorities said an average of 3 million visitors enter the cemetery gates in Manila alone during the two-day festival, with the bulk of numbers arriving on Nov. 1. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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