How Covid-19 will Shape Araw ng Patay Tradition

Araw ng Patay or Todos Los Santos is the day when Filipinos commemorate their dead loved ones. In the Philippines, it’s our tradition to visit our dead relatives in their graveyards to clean, pray for their souls, light candles, and offer food to help them in their journey. But during the past few months, the pandemic has us swaying away from crowded places. Also, Metro Manila mayors are urging a week’s closure of cemeteries which would prevent us from visiting our relatives from November 1 onwards.

With ordinances such as these, how would Filipinos change the way we commemorate All Souls’ Day during the 2nd day of November?

Eco-Friendly Options for Burial

Seeking alternative options to burying the dead might not only be beneficial to the environment but also for our health. Alternative options like Aquamation and donating to Body Farms won’t require us to yearly visit the cemetery. Basically, aquamation is like cremations but with the use of water. It emits about a fifth of the carbon dioxide cremation. While Body Farms is like donating the body to science. These two and a lot more options could be used to save space, burial costs, and the environment.

Honoring the Memories

Since people can’t go visit their dead family members during Araw ng Patay, many would eventually learn to set this day to remember them instead. And this day might be or may not be the day of the dead every November 2 of each year. It may be healthier, or much more effective, to set the day every birthday of the deceased so as to reminisce the happy memories instead. By reminiscing the memories we have of them instead of honoring their grave, we create a much more wholesome experience during the day of the dead.

Being with the Living Instead of the Dead

Since it would be safer not to participate or to practice the traditions some other time, November 2 could be used to cherish our time with our living loved ones. We could set this day to talk about our relatives who passed. We could visit old photo albums or do past activities that we only do with our loved ones who passed away. Also, passing on the stories of our dead relative onto the next generation are some of the activities to do during this day.

They say burials are for the living, not the dead. And so by cherishing the memories, we have of our loved ones who passed away instead, we little by little learn to let go and learn to appreciate the time we have.