We call it Undas, a word generally traced to the Spanish honras, meaning honors paid to the dead. In Southern Quezon, however, nobody needs an explanation. Mention Undas, and everybody knows where the family ought to be on the first of November.
Strictly speaking, November 1 is All Saints’ Day, while November 2 is All Souls’ Day, the commemoration of the faithful departed. Yet Filipinos troop to the cemeteries on November 1. In practice, we have folded the two observances into one gathering of remembrance, prayer, and reunion.
Every town in Southern Quezon has its own peculiar way of observing Undas.
In Lopez, the public cemetery sits on a hill on the outskirts of town. From a distance, passing motorists and pedestrians can see the niches and mausoleums. I dare say that this visibility gives the Lopezeños an additional reason to clean and adorn the resting places of their forebears.
Baka may makapansin at sabihing, “Ay, hindi man lamang nalinis ang nicho nila!”
Even among the dead, the living must mind the family reputation.
I remember that when Teddy Yumul died in 1995 at the age of 47, he was the first buyer of a memorial lot beside the public cemetery. That memory returns whenever I pass the place.
Travel along the Maharlika Highway toward Calauag during Undas, and every cemetery becomes a bottleneck. From Tiaong to Candelaria, vendors crowd the approaches to the municipal cemeteries. Candelaria now has several private memorial parks, as do Sariaya and Lucena. Farther along are Pagbilao, Atimonan, and Plaridel, where cemeteries along the highway draw their own crowds and their own traffic.
The roadside commerce, the returning relatives, and the gatherings around the graves give Undas something of the atmosphere of a fiesta. But it is a fiesta with a very short life.
People begin arriving on October 30 or 31. They come from Manila, from other provinces, and sometimes from abroad. On November 1, the cemetery fills. By November 2, the families begin dispersing, returning to wherever work and circumstance have taken them.
Parang isang putok lamang.
A town fiesta takes its time.
In May, there are celebrations such as the Mayohan and the festivities surrounding town anniversaries. In Calauag, we celebrate our foundation day on May 25, while the patronal fiesta comes around June 29.
Weeks before the festivities, sometimes a month ahead, the peryantes begin occupying portions of the market and the streets designated for them. Their stalls become part of the town’s daily life. People browse, bargain, buy, and return the following day. The celebration has time to gather momentum. Peryantes who are single are in the look out for damsels who fancy their kind. Kaya maraming umigi ang buhay sa pagpeperya dahil kasama ang pag-ibig sa paghahanapbuhay.
Undas has a different vibe. Undas arrives, fills the cemetery, and leaves.
Even its attendance depends on the calendar. In my observation, when November 1 falls on a Friday, the crowds are especially large. A Saturday or Sunday also brings many visitors. When it falls on a Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday, some families hesitate. There is work to consider, transportation to arrange, and the prospect of spending hours trapped in traffic.
The desire to come home must contend with the difficulty of getting there.
Now that October is drawing to a close, families are making their plans. Some will take the road, others the sea, and still others a plane, all to reach the place where they believe they should be on November 1.
This year, it falls on a Sunday, a fitting day to spend with our departed ancestors, parents, siblings, and better halves.
There will be prayers and candles, flowers and freshly cleaned tombs. There will also be conversations among relatives who have not seen one another since the last funeral, fiesta, or Undas. Around the graves, the living will exchange news.
The Americans have Thanksgiving. We have Undas.
Both bring families together. In Calauag, however, the gathering is more likely to feature a gallon of Lambanog or Tubâ than a turkey.
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