All Saints and Souls Day Tradition

November 1 and 2 are dates that I looked forward to growing up. These are two days full of traditions.

I grew up with the tradition of going to the cemetery during this time of the year. We have two public cemeteries in our town. One in the hill and one in the plains. Every November first we go to the cemetery in the hills. We bring flowers and candles to be placed at my great grand parents grave. We attend mass there. We do the same thing on the second day only it will be in the cemetery in the plains. We also make sure that we have mass intentions for the repose of the souls of our loved ones.

On both days, almost every household in our town will make local delicacies like sticky rice in wrapped in banana, steamed rice cake and more which are supposed to be served after going to the cemetery.

After all these years, I still haven't forgotten the tradition of visiting the graves of our loved ones during All Saints Day and All Souls Day. Now that I can no longer celebrate it in Philippines, I make sure to send a little amount of money for the mass intentions, flowers and candles. I always make sure to visit the graves of my loved ones whenever we go home on vacation.

"Misa de Gallo" 2010

Any moment now, in Philippines, Misa de Gallo starts. I am nostalgic. As far as I can remember, our family never missed Misa de Gallo especially the first day. Rain or no rain, we always attend morning masses.

Misa de Gallo, popularly known to Filipinos as the Simbang Gabi. These masses are the most important of all Filipino Christmas traditions because they signify the coming birth of the Messiah.

These nine dawn Masses, usually starting at four o'clock in the morning, are considered a novena by the Catholic and Aglipayan faithful. Going to mass this early for nine consecutive days is meant to show the churchgoer's devotion to his faith and to heighten anticipation for the Nativity of the Lord. A traditional Filipino belief, however, is that those who complete the novena will have a special wish or favor granted by God.

I miss this day. I miss the hustle and bustle in our household to make sure that we won't be late. I miss the text messages of friends reminding you not to miss the first day of the dawn mass. I miss the long lines of people buying "pandesal" after mass. I definitely miss Philippine Christmas!