Dinner beside a Tombstone
By: Maria Reylan M. Garcia
The sky was as blue as ever, it has been painted perfectly with sketches of puffy clouds scattered along the breath-taking scenery. The grass could not have been greener; it tickled the restless feet of children chasing each other in circles. Several food kiosks crowded the side walks with mouth-watering display of tasty delights. Countless tents paraded the entire area, housing families with their resounding laughs and catching up gossips. I gazed upon such sight; it was a pleasure that I was living the picnic paradise. For a second, I thought I was in a locality's suburban park joining a massive family reunion. I brought my head down and caught sight of gray marbles with fancy name engravings and a variety of flowers outlining the plates. I was in a cemetery, a memorial park, and a place for the dead where the sky was bluest; the grass was greenest and the best place for a family reunion.
Cemeteries remind most of one lingering truth, and that is death. The graveyard supposedly screams the creepy aura of standing just six feet about once-alive corpses. Yet, the days of black mourning umbrellas and the ambiance of solitude was taken aback and made way for multi-colored tents and live band concerts. It cannot be denied that since man found reason, he had been practicing some customs for the dead, the burial practices. The Neanderthals started the fad with their red ochre and the Egyptians followed with the now widely accepted art of embalming. For so long, the living had given much respect and importance in remembering the dead, in commemorating the life those departed had once lived. Yet, the birth of high density cholesterol fast foods and the sheer need to vacate from half a year's worth of work had baptized a less melancholic and tissue-thrift remembrance of the dearly deceased.
At some point it may sound quite unruly for the still breathing to take advantage of the dead people's day to lean back and gather blood links, to hold a family reunion. But, the way I look at it, there is not much point of spending the entire day crying hearts out of a fifty-year old worm infested skeleton. Their time has long been done, and their mission either fulfilled or otherwise has been defined by their own actions and their own fate. It is then more meaningful to give more focus on the living people we barely meet once a year. The gravesites with their flourishing epitaphs will remain as long as the memorial park's in the business, but the opportunity to spend precious time with relatives and family just comes once in a while.
It is even amusing and heart-warming at the same time to listen to families talking about the memories they had together with someone who's digging it in literally with earthworms. The celebration of the dead bridges the distance between relatives, friends and even families who live far from each other. We still pay homage to the dead and the context of respect and honor remains, but as innovative as we are, a little twist was added and we integrated another value, to hold tighter the family ties. It gave me butterflies fluttering inside my tummy, when I saw what seemed to be the departed's husband and son who were talking to her as if she was just right in front of them. Then what seemed to be a minute later came what I presumed to be the departed's parents who brought some snacks for their cheerful vigil. The day the husband and the son remembered a mother who cooked the finest meals and the wife who smothered the most delightful kisses, was also the day when a much closer relationship with the in-laws began.
The night grew dimmer; the developing first quarter moon shone its silver gloom over the graveyard. Yellow glow from vigil candles identified each tombstone and reminded a depressing aura of longing. Petals of flowers started to drop as the chilly breeze passed along each grave. I gaze upon such sight, and if I didn't realize the hundreds of children still chasing around in circles with their glowing sticks and hoops, if I didn't see the dozens of families eating dinner together beside the tombstones, if I didn't hear the joyous music echoing in the entire memorial park, I would have thought I was in the most dramatic or scariest movie nominated in the Oscars.
That day, I lied down beside my great grandparent's gravesite with a comfy car carpet and blanket to rest on.. who couldn't resist? I ate dinner heartedly with almost three cups of rice in a place where necrophobics dread. I ran around with my cousins, with wide smiles on our faces, on the streets where most horror films are shot. All Soul's Day may at first sound be a reason for teary eyes and unhappy realizations. But it doesn't stop man's innate ability to be happy amidst the heartbreaking truths of loss, grief and death. All Soul's Day is just another day for a much awaited family reunion.
I guess it was right for some of my friends to send me a text message saying, Happy All Soul's Day.
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