BAKAS: How Ilokano's Celebrate Our Death Monthsary Of Our Deceased Family Member.

I am part of Ilokanos or the people who speak the Iloco dialect. One of the apparent happenings is that as the days counted, traditions became invisible in people's eyes, but then there was still part of Ilokanos that will never come any, especially since I am also part of very close family ties. We want our families to stay close together even from the third degree of cousins and death.

Ilokanos has a rich culture and tradition, especially Christianity. I am part of the modern Christians that doesn't believe in idols and acts. But constantly be reminded that it's because it's not my religion that doesn't mean we show no to the old traditions. Also, respect, especially our elders are unfamiliar with the new ages. What they believed shall just let be as we respect them.

Bakas, or the Ilokano tradition of celebrating the journey of the souls, was a reminder of our beloved deceased family members. We celebrate their afterlife, as it was said that we are not the only ones moving on. Their souls are grieving and need comfort, so we pray for them to help overcome the burden of grief.

Last March 2022, our family was grieving an unexpected event. We never imagined this happening to my uncle, but things happened as we don't know what would be following things yet to come. He dies with the illness of cancer, and I am one of the family members who look upon him for months. And that was not a good experience, yet reminding me to prevent myself from coming from that phase.

Dying is a part of the process, and praying for the soul will make their journey to the afterlife easier- said in the local dialect of my elders as they comfort my aunt, who is grieving. At that moment, she promised that she would make everything to pray for his husband's soul, my uncle, from burial until the next journey.

Back to Bakas, this is the praying journey for the souls. A lot of prayers meant a lot of light for him. Filipinos have this nine days traditions before burials, and then that nights also have the padasals or prayers. The 40th day after the death was the first part of Bakas, the 5th month was the second Bakas, and the 7th month was the third. The last one will be his first death anniversary.

As I am also curious about traditions, I often spokes to the elders about what they mean. It's the moving-on process for the soul as he will have a much safer journey. Also, as an aunt, to have a lighter feeling knowing completing this prayer would make my uncle more comfortable in heaven was a tremendous help in her moving on, so we were part of the family as we celebrated the blessings.

Of course, many contradict the new paradigm of Christianity in my religion, but our religion also encourages us to respect others. We were allowed.

One of the things you will witness in the Bakas is always the offerings of foods to the soul, and candle presents lights and indigenous materials on the table, offers sticky rice or the malagkit, eggs and native chickens, alcohol and even cigarettes. Elders believe that souls still could smell those as they will hold them after lights. That was from my interview with my elders.

They will have a prayer, most of it was also a local dialect. I also said sorry for not participating in the prayers in actuals. They also respect my religion and won't pressure anyone who wants and doesn't want to pray with them.

They then followed with themes and songs, also translated into Ilokano. They have these tunes that occasionally discuss the words and names of the heavens and my uncle's expressions.

Looking at the lead photo, do you observe the white clothes that have been there in the head? This symbols the uncle's blessing for his bakas. As they believed his soul would now be in peace as he would leave his family in peace, his parents Tatang and Inang, and his wife and son. The journey to the spirit world as he will now rest in peace, his soul was fed with prayers and now moving on.

Moving on is not an easy part, especially for the family. It's the first time we have lost one of our family members after 20 years, so it's painful. With many pr prayers, I think Ilokano traditions helps our heart to move on. As there was an event like this, this also served as our reunion as a family.

At the end of the padasals, here is the food prepared. Feeding people who participated in the prayers, most of them also came from church. It tights Filipino traditions and hospitality as visitors must have food as they come to celebrate the event with us. We prepared a lot of food as shows gratification. We don't look at the people we give and dine with; our neighbours are presents, our cousins and friends.

The bakas was done successfully. Of course, everyday work doesn't end after the mass. It's just started; after preparation, there comes the journey of cleaning it up.

Bakas, as Ilokano traditions only happened by choice now, it's traditions that were losing their name in the eyes of the modern ilokanos. But my family believes so much in family ties that even in death, we give all our uncle's needs, even costs money and time.

Prayer fed the soul the reason behind the Bakas; as we say, I am Ilokano, a modern Christian but I do respect other religion and belief and somehow I was curious about it, and now I do shares.

Thanks for reading…