October 31st: Halloween - a time believed that the ghosts of the dead return to earth

"Hi Georgie...."
It was in 2019 that I had the time to watch "IT" and yes, this is Pennywise, the clown that took Georgie from that rainy day. The evil clown that preys on children.

This was my entry to the pumpkin contest of our company at that time. I just printed a guide to participate and started carving this from a mere pumpkin they have provided. I can say I did a pretty good job at this for a first timer huh?

I also want to share my series of ghosts paper i usually cut out every year as decorations on my desk for this time.

These ghosts keep me company.
Ghosts, Scary Movies, Candies and costumes... this is how Halloween is celebrated here in the island. There are additional reasons to go to parties and get together. I do like going to Camana Bay and watch kids in different costumes and give out candies. Last year, kids tell me I am the Witch.. although I was only wearing my normal clothes then.. yes it was all black. so kudos to the kids for seeing the real me.

I kind of like to be in spirit with the halloween festivities of the West..
so much for that this only lasts the whole day an night of October 31st.

and by the struck of midnight.

November 1st = All Soul's Day

when the date turns November 1st, the whole meaning of "the dead" changes.

and this one really gets the creeps in me.

Back in the Philippines, my November 1 starts early.
I dress up in comfy clothes, get ready for the day I will be roaming around different cemeteries of our dead. I was the one tasked to deliver the flowers and light candles and say prayers for the repose of their souls.
This is the time to remember the dead.
And yes, I do remember them.
Every candle lit for each one of them, may it be my grandfather, grandmother, uncles and auntie...I say their name and remember their good old days and pray that they are in peace.

Then I go and hang out to my father's grave. ---just typing this still feels awkward.

I have never called it my father's grave. I usually just say I go to "Papa". My safe place. It is a piece of land where I can sit and think of sitting at his lap and listen to his stories told by the gusts of wind. Even without anyone knowing, I used to go there when I am alone and lonely and just spend time with him. so yeah.. it is not a grave.

.pause and breathe pause.

So yes, I spend my entire day there and when we go home, we have to put on candles by our doorway, guiding the lost souls, brightening their paths for as long as the candles lit their way.

The last time I did this was 5 years ago.
And now, I still hangout and spend time and chat with the dead.

I buy some candles from the stores, and the cemetery trips have now become prayers whispered hoping to travel all the distance and dimensions to reach to them.

The bermuda I always sit to, becomes an area rug, a yoga mat or sometimes the coldness of the floor tiles..
And my father's place, my solitude, my source of warmest hugs, an open space I can be a kid again and just be my father's daughter.. it is all now represented by a single picture in his glory days as a cop that my mother inserted in one one of my notebooks when i left the country.

So now, on my fifth year in the island..this is all how I celebrate / commemorate the souls..

I stare blankly at my father's smiling eyes and listen as he tells me that all is gonna be well.. that he has never really left me.. that I am still his little girl.. that I can still find refuge and strength from him.. that he still holds my tiny little hands in his muscular palm and that he can still shake away all the worries I have...

"Makin' my way downtown
Walkin' fast, faces pass
And I'm homebound
Starin' blankly ahead
Just makin' my way
Makin' a way through the crowd

And I need you
And I miss you
And now I wonder

If I could fall into the sky
Do you think time would pass me by?
'Cause you know I'd walk a thousand miles
If I could just see you
Tonight..."

lyrics from: https://genius.com/Vanessa-carlton-a-thousand-miles-lyrics