November 1

My favorite holiday?

You guessed it, November 1, All Saint's Day.
I am more excited over it than Christmas or New Year's Eve.
Why? Maybe because I find a certain distinct "magic" about the event.
For one, it is spent in a cemetery or memorial park.
For at least once a year, a place of dread, ghost stories and horror stories
is transformed into a place of fellowship, reunion and "fun."
(Yes, the time should be foremost a memorial for our dearly departed (but then again that should be on November 2) we should take time to pray for their souls, but the reality remains)

I remember the time when as a young kid, me, my cousins and some friends will make a contest
as to who will create the biggest and smoothest candle ball (made from candle drippings).
We used to scour the entire public cemetery looking for that candle dripping with just about the
right consistency, temperature and malleability to include in our growing creation.
Many the times when we were shooed from doing so with threats of bodily harm but ignored them anyway.
It was such a carefree and blissful experience.

Well, I should also admit that maybe, just maybe ;) that a part of my liking for this event is the fact that the area occupied by the final resting place of my grandparents are surrounded by the final resting places of people who have such pretty granddaughters. It was the only time of the year then that I see them and maybe, just maybe ;) I had this boyish crush on them. (To this day, only I and a common cousin remain unmarried.)

Today, All Saint's Day still remain as my top holiday, yet I felt that the magic does not remain. The reasons are no longer there. This year, I tried making another candle ball. Well, my younger cousins beat me to it. As I have said, all our "pretty neighbors" are now married and have children and the boyish crush no longer remains. The cemetery is now doubly crowded (this will be tackled on other posts) and one would find it difficult to navigate. Ganon talaga e.