November Dreams and Traditions

I think I flew four times in less than a week. I was still nursing a jetlag from my16-hour flight and there I was hopping on a plane again for an hour and forty-five plane ride to Cagayan de Oro. I ran into a little trouble and had to fly back to the country's capital, Manila, only to end up flying back again to my hometown for November's 1 and 2.

In the Philippines, those dates are considered holidays as it is tradition to visit the dead on All Soul's and All Saint's day.

After visiting the grave of loved ones, I endured a 5-hour bus trip to Bukidnon (literally translating to "Mountainous") to visit my grandmother's grave. This bus trip was quite painful as there were multiple stop-overs. The bus service was unreliable too, we ended up waiting for an hour for another bus to pass by along the highway (late in the evening!) to get to our destination. All this without any explanation from the company.

It wasn't frightening though, there were still many people travelling with us, most of them families. Many of them I gathered, were also going home to visit the graves of their loved ones.

The very next day, after lighting a candle and saying our prayers, I went back to the city, this time hitching a ride with my aunt and uncle. It only took us three hours to get back to the city.

I think this is how it is in our culture, it is so important to visit the dead that it doesn't matter if one's travel time took longer than one's staying time, as long as we've lit candles and offered prayers, the departed souls will be at peace.

It's one of those things people here believe in so much. I do, I dreamt of my Grandma the night before I was set to travel. When I woke up, I did not need the insistence of my friends, I knew I had to push through.