【講師コラム】メル講師 No.19～Happy Halloween～

Happy, happy Friday, Mommies and Daddies!!! It has been quite a while since I last wrote my entry for Englishbuds… How is everything going, Mommies and Daddies?
I do hope that all of you are safe, happy, and healthy.
Wow! I cannot believe that it is already October, and we will be saying goodbye to 2022 in just a few months…
I feel like I just celebrated the New Year a few weeks ago…
I literally did not notice the days passing by…
Where-oh-where have all those days gone?

Oooops!!! Speaking of October,
what usually comes to mind when the month of October comes?..
TADAAA!!! That’s right!!! It’s HALLOWEEN SEASON!!!
And for my entry, I would like to share with you how we, Filipinos, celebrate Halloween in the Philippines.
Just like in other western countries, Halloween is one of the most anticipated holidays of the year for us.
But Filipinos celebrate it a different manner and for a different reason.
Halloween is celebrated on the 31st of October in other countries.
But here in my country, Halloween, known as “UNDAS” (Undas means “DAY OF THE DEAD”) by most Filipinos, is like a week-long celebration for remembering and paying respect to our departed loved-ones.
While people in western countries are busy preparing for their spookiest costumes,
decorating their yards with anything scary, and buying candies and chocolates for trick or treating, Filipinos are busy cleaning, repainting, and beautifying the tombs of our deceased loved-ones a week before UNDAS.

By October 31st, almost everyone is busy preparing everything that we will be bringing to the cemetery on the next day.
We make sure that we have enough candles to light from morning until night time,
we buy bunches of lovely flowers to decorate the tombs of our dearly departed loved ones, and of course, we make sure that we have enough food to feast on with our family and relatives.

On November 1st (known as ALL SAINTS DAY), people flock to the cemetery. So expect HEAVY traffic situation on this day.
The young ones would usually go to the cemetery first to decorate the tombs with flowers and light candles up.
They also set up tents, tables and chairs in front of the gravesites so we can have a venue for our family and relatives.
Filipinos love eating VERY MUCH!!! So, back at home, the adults are busy preparing a hefty amount of food for everyone who would come by to visit their loved ones’ tombs.
Oh, I forgot to tell you that Halloween also serves as a mini-reunion for many Filipinos.
Most of us go back to our hometown for UNDAS, so we always make sure that we have enough foods to enjoy while talking and reminiscing…
We also bring different kinds of card and board games that could keep us out of boredom.
We play music, sing and dance, and, believe it or not, we even do karaoke at the cemetery.
As you can imagine, Halloween or UNDAS is like a FEAST FOR THE DEAD in the Philippines…

Oh, I have one unforgetable story from UNDAS when Teacher Madel and I were still very small…
Children here love to collect melted wax from candles while at the cemetery and make a big ball of candle wax.
Teacher Madel and I were no different from those children back when we were young.
One Halloween day, while we were busy gathering the melted wax from the lighted candles in front of our of our great grandparents’ tombs, someone suddenly shouted, “Nasusunog ang bestida ni Madel!” (Madel’s dress is burning!).
We were so engrossed with what we were doing that we did not notice that the flame from one of the candles caught the hem of my little sister’s dress.
Everyone panicked, and someone tried to use a fan to put out the fire on the dress, but that only made the fire spread more…
I was so scared and worried because Madel was screaming and crying that I grabbed the burning part of the dress with my bare hands.
I was able to put the fire out of my sister’s dress, but I ended up hurting my hands, oh, well, just a bit.
After that incident, our family never forgets to bring it up and laugh about it everytime we gather at the cemetery for UNDAS.

Oh, my! I almost forgit about ALL SOULS DAY… Welebrate ALL SOULS DAY on November 2nd.
And those who are not willing to brave the large number of crowd and terrible traffic on November 1st usually opt to visit the cemetery on this day.

They say that the souls of our departed loved ones come back and visit us during the Halloween…
This year has been really sad for me…
Five of my dogs died last June…
I wonder if they will come to visit me… T_T

And, they you are, Mommies and Daddies… That is how we uniquely observe Halloween here in the Philippines.
It is quite different from how people from western countries celebrate the Halloween, but it does not mean that it is less fun.
UNDAS actually is one of my favorite holidays in my country!!!

Thank you so much for taking time to read my entry.
I truly hope that you enjoyed discovering how Filipinos celebrate the Halloween here.
It has been so many years since Englishbuds has started giving online English lessons.
It is just so heartwarming to see how much it has grown over the years…
Thank you so much, Mommy and Daddies for letting me be a part your precious little ones’ English journey.
I will always have this heart-expanding gratitude for all of you…