starshadow_rivaulx (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
starshadow_rivaulx) wrote2008-11-02 01:02 am
starshadow_rivaulx) wrote2008-11-02 01:02 am
All Hallow's Eve/All Saints Day
::waves hello::
It's that kind of "just lazing 'round the porch, y'all" kind of Sunday afternoon - bright sunshine, a light breeze (supplemented by strategically placed electric fans), cats sprawled in all their favorite places getting ready for their afternoon naps. I've got cushions airing on the washlines, and I notice the maid has hung up some sheets. Uh-huh.
Pleasantly drowsy. I'm overdosing on decaf, in an effort to finish the damn stuff. See, this is why I want me some whole beans as a present, not grind, or - HORRORS! - instant. No one in this house drinks coffee but me, and I only want the good stuff, elitist snob that I am. What I hate about instant is that by the time we get to the bottom of the container, the coffee has turned into some sort of fused substance that is impossible to extract. URGH.
Of course, since the stuff is still drinkable, that means I dissolve it in boiling water and decant it into a heat-proof pitcher. Drink some while it's hot, liberally milked and sugared - when it's cool, it serves as a drink by itself or as an additive to hot chocolate. Pah, Starbucks has nothing on my hot chocolate concoctions when I have a mind to make them. Unfortunately, haven't had much of that mind - I'm at the point in my PMS where it feels like my brains have gone off to a spa without me. ::sigh:: I do miss them, the little gray cells.
* * * * * *
The little drabble I was fooling with has exhausted itself for the moment. The stuff I write, they're not so much complete drabbles as little bits of scenes; perhaps if I string some of them together and work on the continuity, I might have a full-fledged story some day. There's another little scene wanting to be written, so eventually I'll get around to that for more light entertainment.
* * * * * *
Halloween was a quiet day for the household. I fixed up hubby's DVR schedule, and later I'll be burning off files to make room for the new recordings. Lots of kids roaming around the gated village where I live; a lot of them were from outside the village, by the scruffy look of them. The resident kids are usually more tricked out in either home made gear or bespoke costumes fit for hotel events. They start making the rounds while the sun is up, accompanied by their nannies and sometimes tailed by their drivers, so that when the little feet get tired, they can be swept off home without too much ado.
It got me to reminiscing about the times I went trick-or-treating in the village. Back then (mid-70s or so) none of us kids would dream about going out to trick-or-treat before the sun went down. Adult supervision? Oh, please, only for the bitty kids - at seven or eight, we felt ourselves fully qualified to run around on our own. And our parents let us, subject to the usual cautions about not bothering houses that didn't have lights on to welcome us.
The population of the village was composed of the expat executives of the Asian Development Bank and the embassies, so the whole observance of Halloween was a cheerfully noisy event that covered the entire village. The streets we covered in a night - without benefit of mobile phones! The bags of candy - pirates with their booty couldn't be prouder. The candy...Hershey's miniatures, packs of M&Ms, Bazooka Joe gum, SweeTarts, Butterballs, Double Bubble, chocolate Pirate Gold doubloons, Hershey's Kisses, lollipops, Chupa-chups, Fox's hard candies...the list goes on. Some houses gave away home-cooked stuff like brownies and cookies. One house - the owner also owns a very prosperous department store - gave away ice cream then, and continues to do so now.
We were out the moment the sun touched the horizon, and back when the moon was high - roughly about three hours of walking and raiding every house that had loot. It was a given that small kids had dibs on the candies, and teenagers had to wait their turn. The next day, after the candies had been sorted out, my posse and I would gather at one house and have a trade-off, which left all of us with our preferred candies and our stashes undiminished for the trading. After which, we would sit on the front yard and trade tales.
Good times, those. My posse has grown up and moved away, not necessarily in that order. Parents now are more paranoid about child security than they were in those days, so now the small ones are out shortly after three (!!!!!!) and home by nightfall. It makes for a quiet Hallow's Eve.
* * * * * *
All Saints' Day is also cemetery visitation day in the Phlippines. I have no doubt a lot of people might have been miffed at October 31st not being a non-working holiday, as in previous years. Still, tradition dies hard - as with the Easter weekend, everyone who can, tries to be home for All Saints. Families take time to clean out the tombs and mausoleums - general sweeping, fresh coats of paint, trimming of plants.
On the day itself, the cemeteries and memorial parks come alive with the sound of families arriving to spend the day with their loved ones. Many bring pinic lunches, if not charcoal braziers to cook up the meal, the rice having been made the night before at home. You can tell which families had the means to plan ahead, because they have two-storey mausoleums, sometimes with a small bathroom tucked away in a corner. The lower storey houses the tombs, the upper storey is where the family has lunch and can play card or board games. The small ones either nap or play games with the candle drippings; the teeners and grown-ups greet friends and neighbors while roaming about the cemetery. Quite the party atmosphere!
Prayers are said for the departed at some point in all of this. Candles are lit and flowers arranged upon the family's arrival at the cemetery. And sometimes, if the departed had a colorful life, the reminiscing of the elders provides a lot of interesting information for the ears of the next generation! It's not always so lively, though - for families who have lost loved ones in tragic ways - heinous crime, infant mortality, suicide - their "nichos" (sp? trans=niches) or "puntods" (trans=tombs) are pockets of quiet in an otherwise fiesta atmosphere.
Of course, no self-respecting holiday goes by in the Philippines without the presence of crass commercialism in the cemetery. Flower prices not only jump to astronomical levels, as do the prices of flower arrangements and candles, these items are hawked in a loud and pushy manner to anyone entering the cemetery/memorial park. Hard to believe that by the next day, all will be, to use the cliche, as silent as the grave once again.
Fortunately, this year, there were no wretched incidents such as the idiot who, when challenged for a parking space, took out a gun and shot at the other vehicle, thus killing a pregnant woman and her baby.
* * * * * *
All Souls Day means those who wanted to avoid the crowds of yesterday are now in the cemetery. Come Monday, it will be business as usual.
Nap time. I think I'll go indulge now.
It's that kind of "just lazing 'round the porch, y'all" kind of Sunday afternoon - bright sunshine, a light breeze (supplemented by strategically placed electric fans), cats sprawled in all their favorite places getting ready for their afternoon naps. I've got cushions airing on the washlines, and I notice the maid has hung up some sheets. Uh-huh.
Pleasantly drowsy. I'm overdosing on decaf, in an effort to finish the damn stuff. See, this is why I want me some whole beans as a present, not grind, or - HORRORS! - instant. No one in this house drinks coffee but me, and I only want the good stuff, elitist snob that I am. What I hate about instant is that by the time we get to the bottom of the container, the coffee has turned into some sort of fused substance that is impossible to extract. URGH.
Of course, since the stuff is still drinkable, that means I dissolve it in boiling water and decant it into a heat-proof pitcher. Drink some while it's hot, liberally milked and sugared - when it's cool, it serves as a drink by itself or as an additive to hot chocolate. Pah, Starbucks has nothing on my hot chocolate concoctions when I have a mind to make them. Unfortunately, haven't had much of that mind - I'm at the point in my PMS where it feels like my brains have gone off to a spa without me. ::sigh:: I do miss them, the little gray cells.
* * * * * *
The little drabble I was fooling with has exhausted itself for the moment. The stuff I write, they're not so much complete drabbles as little bits of scenes; perhaps if I string some of them together and work on the continuity, I might have a full-fledged story some day. There's another little scene wanting to be written, so eventually I'll get around to that for more light entertainment.
* * * * * *
Halloween was a quiet day for the household. I fixed up hubby's DVR schedule, and later I'll be burning off files to make room for the new recordings. Lots of kids roaming around the gated village where I live; a lot of them were from outside the village, by the scruffy look of them. The resident kids are usually more tricked out in either home made gear or bespoke costumes fit for hotel events. They start making the rounds while the sun is up, accompanied by their nannies and sometimes tailed by their drivers, so that when the little feet get tired, they can be swept off home without too much ado.
It got me to reminiscing about the times I went trick-or-treating in the village. Back then (mid-70s or so) none of us kids would dream about going out to trick-or-treat before the sun went down. Adult supervision? Oh, please, only for the bitty kids - at seven or eight, we felt ourselves fully qualified to run around on our own. And our parents let us, subject to the usual cautions about not bothering houses that didn't have lights on to welcome us.
The population of the village was composed of the expat executives of the Asian Development Bank and the embassies, so the whole observance of Halloween was a cheerfully noisy event that covered the entire village. The streets we covered in a night - without benefit of mobile phones! The bags of candy - pirates with their booty couldn't be prouder. The candy...Hershey's miniatures, packs of M&Ms, Bazooka Joe gum, SweeTarts, Butterballs, Double Bubble, chocolate Pirate Gold doubloons, Hershey's Kisses, lollipops, Chupa-chups, Fox's hard candies...the list goes on. Some houses gave away home-cooked stuff like brownies and cookies. One house - the owner also owns a very prosperous department store - gave away ice cream then, and continues to do so now.
We were out the moment the sun touched the horizon, and back when the moon was high - roughly about three hours of walking and raiding every house that had loot. It was a given that small kids had dibs on the candies, and teenagers had to wait their turn. The next day, after the candies had been sorted out, my posse and I would gather at one house and have a trade-off, which left all of us with our preferred candies and our stashes undiminished for the trading. After which, we would sit on the front yard and trade tales.
Good times, those. My posse has grown up and moved away, not necessarily in that order. Parents now are more paranoid about child security than they were in those days, so now the small ones are out shortly after three (!!!!!!) and home by nightfall. It makes for a quiet Hallow's Eve.
* * * * * *
All Saints' Day is also cemetery visitation day in the Phlippines. I have no doubt a lot of people might have been miffed at October 31st not being a non-working holiday, as in previous years. Still, tradition dies hard - as with the Easter weekend, everyone who can, tries to be home for All Saints. Families take time to clean out the tombs and mausoleums - general sweeping, fresh coats of paint, trimming of plants.
On the day itself, the cemeteries and memorial parks come alive with the sound of families arriving to spend the day with their loved ones. Many bring pinic lunches, if not charcoal braziers to cook up the meal, the rice having been made the night before at home. You can tell which families had the means to plan ahead, because they have two-storey mausoleums, sometimes with a small bathroom tucked away in a corner. The lower storey houses the tombs, the upper storey is where the family has lunch and can play card or board games. The small ones either nap or play games with the candle drippings; the teeners and grown-ups greet friends and neighbors while roaming about the cemetery. Quite the party atmosphere!
Prayers are said for the departed at some point in all of this. Candles are lit and flowers arranged upon the family's arrival at the cemetery. And sometimes, if the departed had a colorful life, the reminiscing of the elders provides a lot of interesting information for the ears of the next generation! It's not always so lively, though - for families who have lost loved ones in tragic ways - heinous crime, infant mortality, suicide - their "nichos" (sp? trans=niches) or "puntods" (trans=tombs) are pockets of quiet in an otherwise fiesta atmosphere.
Of course, no self-respecting holiday goes by in the Philippines without the presence of crass commercialism in the cemetery. Flower prices not only jump to astronomical levels, as do the prices of flower arrangements and candles, these items are hawked in a loud and pushy manner to anyone entering the cemetery/memorial park. Hard to believe that by the next day, all will be, to use the cliche, as silent as the grave once again.
Fortunately, this year, there were no wretched incidents such as the idiot who, when challenged for a parking space, took out a gun and shot at the other vehicle, thus killing a pregnant woman and her baby.
* * * * * *
All Souls Day means those who wanted to avoid the crowds of yesterday are now in the cemetery. Come Monday, it will be business as usual.
Nap time. I think I'll go indulge now.
no subject
no subject
A friend of mine got reverse Trick or Treated on Halloween, though- some guys came to her door and gave her candy! Apparently, they were doing it all around the apartment complex. I want to do that next year, now! :D