All Saints and Souls Day Tradition

November 1 and 2 are dates that I looked forward to growing up. These are two days full of traditions.

I grew up with the tradition of going to the cemetery during this time of the year. We have two public cemeteries in our town. One in the hill and one in the plains. Every November first we go to the cemetery in the hills. We bring flowers and candles to be placed at my great grand parents grave. We attend mass there. We do the same thing on the second day only it will be in the cemetery in the plains. We also make sure that we have mass intentions for the repose of the souls of our loved ones.

On both days, almost every household in our town will make local delicacies like sticky rice in wrapped in banana, steamed rice cake and more which are supposed to be served after going to the cemetery.

After all these years, I still haven't forgotten the tradition of visiting the graves of our loved ones during All Saints Day and All Souls Day. Now that I can no longer celebrate it in Philippines, I make sure to send a little amount of money for the mass intentions, flowers and candles. I always make sure to visit the graves of my loved ones whenever we go home on vacation.