All Saints Day

November 1, 2012

Halloween isn’t celebrated here but All Saints Day is and after all, Halloween-All Hallowed Eve, the night before All Saints Day, is where Halloween came from in the first place.
This is a time to honor one’s deceased family members. During the days leading up to All Saints’ Day people are busy sprucing up the graves of family members in the cemetery.

We had an early dinner with extended family. A whole roasted baby pig, lechon, was ordered for the occasion

all wrapped up like a present

Anita unwrapping the leechon

Then we proceeded to the cemetery where hundreds of people gathered for the evening mass.

The street was lined with venders selling popcorn, cotton candy, snacks, trinkets and candles. The graves sites were freshly weeded and trimmed, decorated with flowers and hundreds of lit candles. The full moon rose as the priests conducted mass.

I sat thinking and remembering my own father, brother, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins and friends who have passed on.