Celebrating
All Souls day is a family celebration for Filipinos. Its reunion time for us,
it’s a time were family get together at the tomb of our ancestors and share
stories making there memories alive and passed on to the next generation. I remember lighting candles, and bringing not
just flowers but favorite food of our departed love ones so my family can eat
together while sharing beautiful memories. This usually happens overnight in
the cemetery with games, singing and prayers of course. Masses are also
celebrated in the cemetery.
I
find no other better way of celebrating All Souls day than this. It has meaning
and it adds a certain sense to our lives. Life that as we know it, has an end
and yet also a new beginning with a life thereafter. The belief that our love
ones never left us, only that they are in a different reality is comforting
enough. All souls day is a good celebration connecting us to our past so we can
move to the future with confidence.
All
Souls Day is a celebration of life, a life well spent and life worth
remembering. It is a commemoration of all the faithful departed. We share
stories about our deceased loved ones and how they affect our lives. We
remember all the good, happy memories. We remember also all the learning’s that
we can get. It’s certainly not a celebration of scary looking people dressed up
as images of bad spirits, as if magnifying the enemies of Christ. It’s a
celebration of hope, because it provides us a glimpse of where we will go. The
message of All Souls Day is “our life doesn’t end in cemetery but in heaven”.
If
we cannot go to the cemetery, lets light a candle and say a prayer for our
deceased family members and friends. Lets celebrate All Souls Day, as it should
be, a remembrance day for our love ones who went ahead of us, and a celebration
of faith in after life.
by aats
by aats