... is an inherent part of Filipino culture ... traditionally observed as an annual public holiday on November 1. On this day, it is the custom for citizens nationwide to commemorate the occasion by visiting the graves of their deceased loved-ones.
As I broach this somewhat morbidtheme - on an unusually
[for the current British "summer"] glorious August afternoon - readers (assuming there ARE any!) might wonder about the relevance of my reference to a date which is still more than two months ahead on the calander.
Well, the topic just happened to crop up in the course of a conversation my wife and I had a couple of hours ago. She and I were discussing a long-standing friend of mine who, although living in one of Scotland's 'new towns' (Glenrothes) regularly attends the same church we do in Perth ... some 30 miles distant. Afterwards ... come rain, hail (even snow) or shine ... Brian makes an almost weekly pilgrimage to lay fresh flowers on his late wife's grave in the small Burgh of Crieff - which entails a further round trip of roughly the same distance.
In so-doing, my friend is keeping his wife's memory alive in an almost tangible sense.And this, at a time when the ratio per head of population growth in the UK has, since as far back as the 1950's ... and even beyond ... invariably led to the ever-increasing trend towards cremation, due to the the inevitable shortage of ground for burial.
Now, far be it for me to criticise the apparent "popularity" of the latter practice in the current [supposedly unavoidable] circumstances. Indeed, Perth Crematorium first opened in 1959 and, over the past half century, its daily "turnover" has undoubtedly resulted in "A Dying Trade"becoming one of the locality's most "rapidly-expanding business enterprises" ... with assets surpassing those derived from most other Council Services.
But whilst there are legitimate reasons for adopting the "modern" approach to what is, after all, EVERYONE'S final destiny, there's still much to be said in favour of the centuries-old custom of interment within the confines of either a churchyard, municipal cemetery or other form of consecrated memorial land. And, unless I'm mistaken, these remain the choices of a 'last resting place' for 99.9% of Filipinos.
And so, when my friend's wife learned she was terminally ill,she'd stipulated to her husband that she wanted to be laid to rest [more or less] alongside her beloved grandmother ... in the small cemetery close to where she had spent her schooldays at Morrison's Academy nearly fifty years earlier.
Sorry about the long "epilogue" folks! But I wanted to share it with you all ... for what it's worth. Y'see, it's being so "cheery"
that keeps me going ...
But I suppose once your gone your not really bothered what happens to the shell or husk you left behind 
Originally Posted by Arthur Little
