Undas, Todos Los Santos, Tigkalalag, All Souls Day, Day of the Dead - a deeply rooted Filipino tradition

An infrared photograph of a memorial park in the Philippines. Flickr/Jep It's that time of the year again when Filipinos all over the country return to their hometowns to visit and pay respect to their departed family and friends. It is a day of remembrance, a day for visiting grave sites, laying down flowers, offering prayers, and lighting candles. In my childhood, my aunts and uncles on my father's side, being of Chinese ancestry, would also have the tradition of offering food and lighting incense on family altars at home.  This time of the ye…

New Year Traditions

This was my first time to spend the new year in my new apartment. New year at my new place however was uneventful. I did notice that it was noisier there than it was in the previous apartment (more firecrackers). The fireworks display was very nice. I tried to be neighborly and went down to watch the fireworks with the other residents and greet people a happy new year. After that I went back to eat some spaghetti I made and some smoked ham. We have a family tradition of serving 12 round fruits for the new year. Only criteria is they should be unique fru…