Wednesday, November 03, 2010

Honor To Us All

November 3, 2010
Photo above was taken during our All Saint's Day celebration last November 1st.

This is where the body of my Grandfather lies at Saint Francis of Assisi Memorial Park here at General Trias, Cavite. I have posted a little about him last January on my post A Great Man Named Sam .

Every November 1st, Filipinos flock to their Loved Ones's Cemeteries and Memorial Parks to Celebrate All Saint's Day. Every Niche becomes a place where Families, other even go home from abroad, to reunite with each other. Each of their own places are placed with typical Flowers and Candles to Honor their Ancestors. But for us Chinese Families, we never ran out of fruits and other food items as offerings to our Ancestors. So in lieu of the Flowers, we used these fruits such as Grapes, Apples and our Native Lanzones as decorations. All the people passing by our place at the Park can't help but stop and stare at my Lolo's Niche. Different Decorations, Different Styles, One Reason, to honor our Loved Ones the Filipino Way.

My Grandfather, Que Chua Le or Sam Tan in Filipino, was born in Fujian Province, People's Republic of China. He left his country while he was still a teenager and went to the Philippines to try his life here in the mid 1930's. He tried so hard in his early years in the Philippines just like his fellow Chinese Nationals who came here. He met my Grandmother Genoveva, now of good health at the age of 82, while they are still very young and they decided to start a family together. They had Seven Children, Gaudencio, Josefina, Carlito, Elenita, my father Ernesto, Benjamin, and Evangelina. They all have their own Chinese names but being born in the Philippines, they all use their Hispanic Christian names.

They strive so hard to get the life that we enjoy right now. All of these are fruits from all of their labor and I am truly proud of my Lolo and Lola, Grandma and Grandpa in Filipino. If I have to live my life again, I would definitely ask the Lord for one single thing, and that is to be their Grandson! Lolo Sam and Lola Bebang will always bring Honor To Us All.

Tuesday, November 02, 2010

It's Punky Night Tonight

November 2, 2010

These kids really did "Meet for trick or Treat" last night at the Memorial Park. They were roving from niche to niche and asking for some goodies from families that are spending time along the Cemetery to commemorate their deceased loved ones.

Popular in the US, Trick or Treat is usually done during the Night of the Halloween or according to "The Worst Witch" One of my Childhood Favorite TV Series, during Punky Night. It is now slowly practiced by the kids here in the Philippines as well but of course, in Philippine Culture, the main event always happen during November 1st or during the All Saint's Day which I'll be talking about on tomorrow's post!

It's a bit of a shame because my Blog is titled 'Daily' but I'm still very proud that after more than 2 years, Cavite Daily Photo has just Celebrated it's 150th post last October 29th (my last post) Congratulations to me, to this Blog and most of all, Congratulations to all my supporters because together, we all reached our 150th post! To all my City Daily Photo Bloging friends, without you and your encouragements, Cavite Daily Photo would never have lasted 50 posts, You are all my inspiration!