Funeral practices and burial customs in the Philippines
Encyclopedia
Funeral practices and burial customs in the Philippines
encompass a wide range of person
al, cultural, and traditional beliefs and practices which Filipinos
observe in relation to bereavement, dying, honoring, respecting, interring, and remembering their departed loved ones, relatives, and friends. Sources of the various practices include religious teachings, vestiges of colonialism, and regional variations on these.
In the past and in present times, Filipinos
believe in the afterlife
and give attention to respecting and paying homage to dead people. Wakes are generally held from 3 to 7 days. Provincial wakes are usually held in the home, while city dwellers typically display their dead at a funeral home. Apart from spreading the news about someone’s death verbally, obituaries are also published in newspapers. Although the majority of the Filipino people are Christians, they have retained some traditional indigenous beliefs concerning death.
, Christian
Filipinos such as Catholics that include the Tagalog people
generally hold a wake
known as lamay or paglalamay, a vigil
that typically lasts for five to seven nights, but may last longer if the surviving family is waiting for someone who will be traveling from afar. During this time, the cleaned and embalmed body of the dead, placed in a coffin
, is displayed at the house of deceased or at a funeral home
. The exhibited casket
of the departed is traditionally surrounded by funeral lights, a guest registry book
, a contribution box, and flowers. Family members, relatives, and acquaintances participate in the vigil. Apart from offering condolences, the participants, guests, and viewers of the departed provide financial donations (the abuloy) to help defray funeral and burial cost. Food and warm drinks are customarily served during the nightly vigil. Typical activities conducted outside or near the vigil area include singing, guitar playing, and gambling
such as playing card games to pass the time and to keep awake.
It is conventional that concerned visitors ask the surviving family members how the deceased died, if he or she suffered during his or her illness or last moments, or how much the hospital expenses were. Such personal questions convey valid affection and concern from the vigil partakers. Other people also customarily offer mass
, novena
s, and prayer
s for the benefit of the deceased.
or funeral
day, the coffin is generally loaded into a hearse
or carried by family members, relatives, and friends in a procession
towards the church and the cemetery
. Other members of the family, relatives, and friends will follow after the transported coffin during the funeral march
. Catholic funerals involve the celebration of the mass
, while Protestant
funerals include singing of hymn
s and recitation of prayers, particularly by a preacher.
The representative color of attires for the memorial service and interment is normally black. However if white clothing is preferred, it is customary to sport a black mourning pin at the chest area.
After the entombment of the departed, Christian Filipinos, particularly the Catholics, offer prayers such as praying the rosary for the dead every evening and for nine days, a custom known as the pasiyam or pagsisiyam (literally, “to execute for nine days”). This nine-day prayer service concludes on the last night with a novena and a formal meal with family, relatives, and friends. Such a concluding rite on the ninth day is performed because Filipinos believe that this is the day when the soul of the departed relative moves on from the world of the living. The bereavement period does not normally end with this ritual, instead extending for a period of one year. During this time, the family will still express their mourning by not holding personal or family celebrations and other communal activities. Although, it is very common to conduct an additional evening of prayer forty days after the nine-day period, then again, on the one year anniversary of the departed.
(November 2). The grave sites are cleaned, visited, and adorned by family members, relatives and friends on the eve of November 1, to stay at the cemetery
, to light candles, to pray, to lay flowers, and bring food for the consumption of the attendees. Others, like the Ilocanos, offer food for the dead. Some children habitually gather candle wax during this time for the purpose of play or reselling to candlemakers.
s, also known as the Isneg
s or Isnags, of the Cordillera Administrative Region
bury the deceased person under the kitchen
area of their homes.
blindfold
the dead and then sit it on a chair that is placed next to a house’s main entrance. The arms and legs are held in the sitting position by means of tying. A bangil rite is performed by the elders on the eve of the funeral, which is a chanted narration of the biography
of the deceased. During interment, the departed is directed towards heaven by hitting bamboo
sticks together.
make use of trees as burial places. The dying person chooses the tree beforehand, thus when he or she becomes terminally ill or is evidently going to die because old age, a hut for him or her is built close to the said tree. When the person dies, he is entombed vertically inside the hollowed-out tree trunk.
Filipinos in the Ilocos regions
of the Philippines also have their own funeral and burial traditions, known as the pompon or "burial rites". An example would be how a dead husband is prepared by the wife for the wake, known in Ilocano as the bagongon. Typically, only the wife will cloth the corpse, believing that the spirit
of the spouse can convey messages through her. Placement of the coffin is also important, which is to be at the center of the home and must be corresponding to the planks of the floorboards. Lighting a wooden log in front of the house is also customary because the smoke
assists the spirit of the dead towards heaven
. This log is kept in flames during the wake to repel wicked spirits. The ceremonial attire of the female family members for the vigil is clothing with black coloration. Their heads and shoulder area are shroud
ed with a black handkerchief
known as the manto.
Burial customs of the Ilocano people
include closing all windows first before taking the casket out of the home, preventing any part of the coffin to hit any part of the dwelling (to prevent the spirit of the dead from loitering
to bring forth dilemma
s to the household; to some Filipinos, a coffin hitting any object during a funeral means that another person will soon die), and washing the hairs of family members with a shampoo
known as gogo (to remove the influence of the spirit of the departed). rice cakes and basi
to attendees after each prayer offering session. On the ninth night, a feast is held after the praying or novena. They will again recite prayers and a feast after one year
.
One of the ancient customs for burying the dead in the Philippines is through the use of burial jar
s known as Manunggul jars. These ancient potteries
were found in the Manunggul Cave at the island of Palawan. A characteristic of the jars for the dead is the presence of anthropomorphic human figures on the pot
covers. These figures embody soul
s riding a boat
for the dead while seafaring towards their sanctuary in the afterlife
. These containers have been dated to be from 710 BC to 890 BC. There are also figures of boating people steering paddle
s, wearing headband
s, jaw
-bands, and persons with hands folded across the chest area. The latter is a method of arranging the remains of the dead.
Other similar anthropomorphic jars
were also found at Pinol
(also spelled as Piñol
), Maitum, in the Saranggani Province of the island of Mindanao. These funeral jars dates back from the Metal Age.
In addition to these jars, the 1965 archaeological excavations done by Robert Fox
at Langen Island in El Nido, Palawan
found out that a cave known as Leta-leta Cave
was a burial site that dates to the Late Neolithic Period
.
of the Island of Luzon, the ancient funeral norm of hanging coffins from mountain
cliff
s is still being practiced by some minority group
s. The purpose of suspending the casket from the mountain rocks is to bring the deceased closer to heaven.
In ancient times, the coffins were made from carved and hollowed-out wood. They are 'hung' into place through the use of projecting beam
s.
people dress the dead body with the best garments, sit it on a chair, and sometimes put a lit tobacco source between the dead person’s lips.
also include nine-day recitation of the rosary
, litanies, novenas, and Latin prayers after the burial, with the addition of chanting the Pahulayng Dayon or “Eternal Rest” (also known as "Gozos for the Dead"). The Cebuanos also have superstitious beliefs related to funerals. These superstitions include: placing funeral alms
or limos into a container, avoidance of sweeping the flooring of the home of the deceased (wastes are picked by the hand instead of being swept by broom
s; other Filipinos also have this superstition), no bathing and no combing of hair on the part of relatives (other Filipinos too believe in this), placing worn mourning pins into the coffin during interment, preventing tears
from dropping onto the glass plate of the casket (in order for the departed soul to travel in peace
), placing a chick
on top of the coffin of an individual who died due to a transgression (to hasten justice for the dead victim), wearing of black or white clothing during the interment (except for a child who is dressed with a red-colored garment, as a deterrent from seeing the ghost
of the dead relative), urging relatives to pass through under the casket before it is loaded into the funeral vehicle (to assist the surviving relatives in moving on with their life), marching the dead towards the church and the cemetery (known as the hatod, or “carrying the departed to his destination” on foot), consuming food only at the cemetery after the interment, and passing through smoke
while still within the cemetery or by the gates of the cemetery (to disentangle the spirits of the dead from the bodies of the living).
, Iloilo
. Gambling
is also permitted because gaming contributions help assuage the expenses incurred for burying the dead.
wrap their dead inside tree barks. Being enveloped as such, the dead person's body is then suspended from treetops.
include cutting rosaries that are placed within the hands of the departed (to sever the possibility of having a series of deaths), placement of a chick on the coffin during wakes, preventing teardrops from reaching coffins (in case of brutal deaths), breaking plates prior to taking the coffin out of any edifice, making children walk under a hoisted coffin before loading the latter into the hearse
, and burning dried leaves or paper and applying the smoke to mourners' feet before leaving the burial ground.
around an individual is taken to indicate that a next of kin of that person died; the sighting of a black-hued cat
by an ill individual heading toward a hospital would mean that he or she may not survive his or her disease; the detection of an owl
near the home of a sick individual signifies imminent death for that person.
Other beliefs pertaining to death are related to dreams, dining etiquette
, odor
s, unusual shapes of certain objects, children, and odd numbers. Examples of these types are as follows: not allowing family members to leave the home until used utensils have been cleansed (it is believed that a family member may pass away if this habit is not followed), consuming sour fruits in the evenings (to avoid early parental demise), avoiding taking photographs of three persons together (to avoid the early death of the individual placed in the middle), sudden arrival of a scent of a burning candle in the absence of a lit candle hints that a relative had just died, losing a tooth during a dream is an omen that a relative will soon die, a headless shadow of an individual forewarns that that person will pass away soon, preventing all family members from viewing the face of a dead person at funerals (to prevent the ghost of the departed from visiting the family resulting in the death of every family member), and lifting children related to the deceased over caskets before the entombment (to hinder the ghost of the dead relative from visiting the children).
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
encompass a wide range of person
Person
A person is a human being, or an entity that has certain capacities or attributes strongly associated with being human , for example in a particular moral or legal context...
al, cultural, and traditional beliefs and practices which Filipinos
Filipino people
The Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....
observe in relation to bereavement, dying, honoring, respecting, interring, and remembering their departed loved ones, relatives, and friends. Sources of the various practices include religious teachings, vestiges of colonialism, and regional variations on these.
In the past and in present times, Filipinos
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
believe in the afterlife
Afterlife
The afterlife is the belief that a part of, or essence of, or soul of an individual, which carries with it and confers personal identity, survives the death of the body of this world and this lifetime, by natural or supernatural means, in contrast to the belief in eternal...
and give attention to respecting and paying homage to dead people. Wakes are generally held from 3 to 7 days. Provincial wakes are usually held in the home, while city dwellers typically display their dead at a funeral home. Apart from spreading the news about someone’s death verbally, obituaries are also published in newspapers. Although the majority of the Filipino people are Christians, they have retained some traditional indigenous beliefs concerning death.
Wake
When a person dies in the PhilippinesPhilippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, Christian
Roman Catholicism in the Philippines
The Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, in full communion with the Pope.With 73.8 million members in 2005, it is the predominant religion, making the Philippines the third largest "Catholic" nation in the world after Brazil and Mexico, as well as one...
Filipinos such as Catholics that include the Tagalog people
Tagalog people
The Tagalog people are an ethnic group in the Philippines. The name Tagalog comes from either the native term tagá-ilog, meaning 'people living along the river', or another native term, tagá-alog, meaning 'people living along the ford', a ford being a shallow part of a river or stream where people,...
generally hold a wake
Wake
A wake is the region of recirculating flow immediately behind a moving or stationary solid body, caused by the flow of surrounding fluid around the body.-Fluid dynamics:...
known as lamay or paglalamay, a vigil
Vigil
A vigil is a period of purposeful sleeplessness, an occasion for devotional watching, or an observance...
that typically lasts for five to seven nights, but may last longer if the surviving family is waiting for someone who will be traveling from afar. During this time, the cleaned and embalmed body of the dead, placed in a coffin
Coffin
A coffin is a funerary box used in the display and containment of dead people – either for burial or cremation.Contemporary North American English makes a distinction between "coffin", which is generally understood to denote a funerary box having six sides in plan view, and "casket", which...
, is displayed at the house of deceased or at a funeral home
Funeral home
A funeral home, funeral parlor or mortuary, is a business that provides burial and funeral services for the deceased and their families. These services may include aprepared wake and funeral, and the provision of a chapel for the funeral....
. The exhibited casket
Casket
A casket, or jewelry box is a term for a container that is usually larger than a box, and smaller than a chest, and in the past was typically decorated...
of the departed is traditionally surrounded by funeral lights, a guest registry book
Guestbook
A guestbook is a paper or electronic means for a visitor to acknowledge their visitation to a site, physical or web-based, and leave their name, postal or electronic address , and a comment or note, if desired...
, a contribution box, and flowers. Family members, relatives, and acquaintances participate in the vigil. Apart from offering condolences, the participants, guests, and viewers of the departed provide financial donations (the abuloy) to help defray funeral and burial cost. Food and warm drinks are customarily served during the nightly vigil. Typical activities conducted outside or near the vigil area include singing, guitar playing, and gambling
Gambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
such as playing card games to pass the time and to keep awake.
It is conventional that concerned visitors ask the surviving family members how the deceased died, if he or she suffered during his or her illness or last moments, or how much the hospital expenses were. Such personal questions convey valid affection and concern from the vigil partakers. Other people also customarily offer mass
Mass
Mass can be defined as a quantitive measure of the resistance an object has to change in its velocity.In physics, mass commonly refers to any of the following three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent:...
, novena
Novena
In the Catholic Church, a novena is a devotion consisting of a prayer repeated on nine successive days, asking to obtain special graces. The prayers may come from prayer books, or consist of the recitation of the Rosary , or of short prayers through the day...
s, and prayer
Prayer for the dead
Wherever there is a belief in the continued existence of man's personality through and after death, religion naturally concerns itself with the relations between the living and the dead...
s for the benefit of the deceased.
Funeral
On the burialBurial
Burial is the act of placing a person or object into the ground. This is accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing an object in it, and covering it over.-History:...
or funeral
Funeral
A funeral is a ceremony for celebrating, sanctifying, or remembering the life of a person who has died. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember the dead, from interment itself, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honor...
day, the coffin is generally loaded into a hearse
Hearse
A hearse is a funerary vehicle used to carry a coffin from a church or funeral home to a cemetery. In the funeral trade, hearses are often called funeral coaches.-History:...
or carried by family members, relatives, and friends in a procession
Funeral procession
A funeral procession is a procession, usually in motor vehicles, from a church, synagogue, or mosque to the cemetery. The deceased is usually transported in a hearse, while family and friends follow in their vehicles.- Standard procedure :...
towards the church and the cemetery
Cemetery
A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
. Other members of the family, relatives, and friends will follow after the transported coffin during the funeral march
Funeral march
A funeral march is a march, usually in a minor key, in a slow "simple duple" metre, imitating the solemn pace of a funeral procession. Some such marches are often considered appropriate for use during funerals and other sombre occasions, the most well-known being that of Chopin...
. Catholic funerals involve the celebration of the mass
Mass
Mass can be defined as a quantitive measure of the resistance an object has to change in its velocity.In physics, mass commonly refers to any of the following three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent:...
, while Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
funerals include singing of hymn
Hymn
A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification...
s and recitation of prayers, particularly by a preacher.
The representative color of attires for the memorial service and interment is normally black. However if white clothing is preferred, it is customary to sport a black mourning pin at the chest area.
After the entombment of the departed, Christian Filipinos, particularly the Catholics, offer prayers such as praying the rosary for the dead every evening and for nine days, a custom known as the pasiyam or pagsisiyam (literally, “to execute for nine days”). This nine-day prayer service concludes on the last night with a novena and a formal meal with family, relatives, and friends. Such a concluding rite on the ninth day is performed because Filipinos believe that this is the day when the soul of the departed relative moves on from the world of the living. The bereavement period does not normally end with this ritual, instead extending for a period of one year. During this time, the family will still express their mourning by not holding personal or family celebrations and other communal activities. Although, it is very common to conduct an additional evening of prayer forty days after the nine-day period, then again, on the one year anniversary of the departed.
All Souls Day
Christian Filipinos customarily remember, honor, and pay respect to the dead on All Saints Day (November 1) and All Souls DayAll Souls Day
All Souls' Day commemorates the faithful departed. In Western Christianity, this day is observed principally in the Catholic Church, although some churches of Anglican Communion and the Old Catholic Churches also celebrate it. The Eastern Orthodox Church observes several All Souls' Days during the...
(November 2). The grave sites are cleaned, visited, and adorned by family members, relatives and friends on the eve of November 1, to stay at the cemetery
Graveyard
A graveyard is any place set aside for long-term burial of the dead, with or without monuments such as headstones...
, to light candles, to pray, to lay flowers, and bring food for the consumption of the attendees. Others, like the Ilocanos, offer food for the dead. Some children habitually gather candle wax during this time for the purpose of play or reselling to candlemakers.
Apayao customs
The ApayaoIsneg
The Isneg are a tribe living in Luzon, the Philippines. The Isneg and other ethnic groups of the Cordillera Administrative Region are collectively known as Cordillerans. They speak the Isnag language....
s, also known as the Isneg
Isneg
The Isneg are a tribe living in Luzon, the Philippines. The Isneg and other ethnic groups of the Cordillera Administrative Region are collectively known as Cordillerans. They speak the Isnag language....
s or Isnags, of the Cordillera Administrative Region
Cordillera Administrative Region
The Cordillera Administrative Region is a region in the Philippines composed of the provinces of Abra, Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga and Mountain Province, as well as Baguio City, the regional center. The Cordillera Administrative Region encompasses most of the areas within the Cordillera...
bury the deceased person under the kitchen
Kitchen
A kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation.In the West, a modern residential kitchen is typically equipped with a stove, a sink with hot and cold running water, a refrigerator and kitchen cabinets arranged according to a modular design. Many households have a...
area of their homes.
Benguet customs
For eight days, the indigenous people from BenguetBenguet
Benguet is a landlocked province of the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. Its capital is La Trinidad and borders, clockwise from the south, Pangasinan, La Union, Ilocos Sur, Mountain Province, Ifugao, and Nueva Vizcaya....
blindfold
Blindfold
A blindfold is a garment, usually of cloth, tied to one's head to cover the eyes to disable the wearer's sight. It can be worn when the eyes are in a closed state and thus prevents the wearer from opening them...
the dead and then sit it on a chair that is placed next to a house’s main entrance. The arms and legs are held in the sitting position by means of tying. A bangil rite is performed by the elders on the eve of the funeral, which is a chanted narration of the biography
Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
of the deceased. During interment, the departed is directed towards heaven by hitting bamboo
Bamboo
Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....
sticks together.
Caviteño customs
Some rural area residents in CaviteCavite
Cavite is a province of the Philippines located on the southern shores of Manila Bay in the CALABARZON region in Luzon, just 30 kilometers south of Manila. Cavite is surrounded by Laguna to the east, Metro Manila to the northeast, and Batangas to the south...
make use of trees as burial places. The dying person chooses the tree beforehand, thus when he or she becomes terminally ill or is evidently going to die because old age, a hut for him or her is built close to the said tree. When the person dies, he is entombed vertically inside the hollowed-out tree trunk.
Wake
Filipinos in the Ilocos regions
Ilocos
Ilocos collectively refers to two provinces in the Philippines: Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur. Inhabitants are called Ilocanos and they speak the language Iloko, also called Ilocano.The Ilocos Region, containing four provinces, is named after Ilocos...
of the Philippines also have their own funeral and burial traditions, known as the pompon or "burial rites". An example would be how a dead husband is prepared by the wife for the wake, known in Ilocano as the bagongon. Typically, only the wife will cloth the corpse, believing that the spirit
Spirit
The English word spirit has many differing meanings and connotations, most of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body.The spirit of a living thing usually refers to or explains its consciousness.The notions of a person's "spirit" and "soul" often also overlap,...
of the spouse can convey messages through her. Placement of the coffin is also important, which is to be at the center of the home and must be corresponding to the planks of the floorboards. Lighting a wooden log in front of the house is also customary because the smoke
Smoke
Smoke is a collection of airborne solid and liquid particulates and gases emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with the quantity of air that is entrained or otherwise mixed into the mass. It is commonly an unwanted by-product of fires , but may also be used for pest...
assists the spirit of the dead towards heaven
Heaven
Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
. This log is kept in flames during the wake to repel wicked spirits. The ceremonial attire of the female family members for the vigil is clothing with black coloration. Their heads and shoulder area are shroud
Shroud
Shroud usually refers to an item, such as a cloth, that covers or protects some other object. The term is most often used in reference to burial sheets, winding-cloths or winding-sheets, such as the famous Shroud of Turin or Tachrichim that Jews are dressed in for burial...
ed with a black handkerchief
Handkerchief
A handkerchief , also called a handkercher or hanky, is a form of a kerchief, typically a hemmed square of thin fabric that can be carried in the pocket or purse, and which is intended for personal hygiene purposes such as wiping one's hands or face, or blowing one's nose...
known as the manto.
Funeral
Burial customs of the Ilocano people
Ilocano people
The Ilocano or Ilokano people are the third largest Filipino ethnolinguistic group. Aside from being referred to as Ilocanos, from "i"-from, and "looc"-bay, they also refer to themselves as Samtoy, from the Ilocano phrase "sao mi ditoy", meaning 'our language here.' The word "Ilocano" came from...
include closing all windows first before taking the casket out of the home, preventing any part of the coffin to hit any part of the dwelling (to prevent the spirit of the dead from loitering
Loitering
Loitering is the act of remaining in a particular public place for a protracted time. Under certain circumstances, it is illegal in various jurisdictions.-Prohibition and history:Loitering may be prohibited by local governments in several countries...
to bring forth dilemma
Dilemma
A dilemma |proposition]]") is a problem offering two possibilities, neither of which is practically acceptable. One in this position has been traditionally described as "being on the horns of a dilemma", neither horn being comfortable...
s to the household; to some Filipinos, a coffin hitting any object during a funeral means that another person will soon die), and washing the hairs of family members with a shampoo
Shampoo
Shampoo is a hair care product used for the removal of oils, dirt, skin particles, dandruff, environmental pollutants and other contaminant particles that gradually build up in hair...
known as gogo (to remove the influence of the spirit of the departed). rice cakes and basi
Basi
Basi is a fermented alcoholic beverage made of sugarcane produced in the Philippines and Guyana.- Philippines :]]Basi is the local beverage of Ilocos in northern Luzon in San Ildefonso where it has been consumed since before the Spanish conquest. In the Philippines, commercial basi is produced by...
to attendees after each prayer offering session. On the ninth night, a feast is held after the praying or novena. They will again recite prayers and a feast after one year
Death anniversary
A death anniversary is a custom observed in several Asian cultures including China, Pakistan, Israel, Georgia, India, Iran, Japan, Korea, Russia and Vietnam, as well as in other nations with significant overseas Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Jewish, and Vietnamese populations...
.
Ilongot customs
The Ilongot is buried in a sitting position, and if a woman, has her hands tied to her feet, to prevent her "ghost" from roaming.Itneg customs
The Itnegs of Abra have a customary habit of burying their dead under their houses.Palaweño customs
Canopic jar
Canopic jars were used by the Ancient Egyptians during the mummification process to store and preserve the viscera of their owner for the afterlife. They were commonly either carved from limestone or were made of pottery...
s known as Manunggul jars. These ancient potteries
Pottery
Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...
were found in the Manunggul Cave at the island of Palawan. A characteristic of the jars for the dead is the presence of anthropomorphic human figures on the pot
Pot
Pot commonly refers to pottery, the ceramic ware made by pottersPot may also refer to:- Containers :* Plant pot or flower pot, a container in which plants are cultivated* Cooking pot, a stove-top cooking utensil* Chamber pot, a bedside urinal...
covers. These figures embody soul
Soul
A soul in certain spiritual, philosophical, and psychological traditions is the incorporeal essence of a person or living thing or object. Many philosophical and spiritual systems teach that humans have souls, and others teach that all living things and even inanimate objects have souls. The...
s riding a boat
Boat
A boat is a watercraft of any size designed to float or plane, to provide passage across water. Usually this water will be inland or in protected coastal areas. However, boats such as the whaleboat were designed to be operated from a ship in an offshore environment. In naval terms, a boat is a...
for the dead while seafaring towards their sanctuary in the afterlife
Afterlife
The afterlife is the belief that a part of, or essence of, or soul of an individual, which carries with it and confers personal identity, survives the death of the body of this world and this lifetime, by natural or supernatural means, in contrast to the belief in eternal...
. These containers have been dated to be from 710 BC to 890 BC. There are also figures of boating people steering paddle
Paddle
A paddle is a tool used for pushing against liquids, either as a form of propulsion in a boat or as an implement for mixing.-Materials and designs:...
s, wearing headband
Headband
A headband is a clothing accessory worn in the hair or around the forehead, usually to hold hair away from the face or eyes. Headbands generally consist of a loop of elastic material or a horseshoe-shaped piece of flexible plastic or metal...
s, jaw
Jaw
The jaw is any opposable articulated structure at the entrance of the mouth, typically used for grasping and manipulating food. The term jaws is also broadly applied to the whole of the structures constituting the vault of the mouth and serving to open and close it and is part of the body plan of...
-bands, and persons with hands folded across the chest area. The latter is a method of arranging the remains of the dead.
Other similar anthropomorphic jars
Maitum Anthropomorphic Potteries
]In 1991, archeologists discovered anthropomorphic secondary burial jars in Ayub Cave, Piñol. Maitum, Sarangani Province, in Mindanao, Philippines. Since this sensational finding, a number of archaeological excavations were conducted to recover these important artifacts...
were also found at Pinol
Maitum, Sarangani
Maitum is a 2nd class municipality in the province of Sarangani, Philippines. According to the latest census, it has a population of 37,054 people in 7,640 households....
(also spelled as Piñol
Maitum, Sarangani
Maitum is a 2nd class municipality in the province of Sarangani, Philippines. According to the latest census, it has a population of 37,054 people in 7,640 households....
), Maitum, in the Saranggani Province of the island of Mindanao. These funeral jars dates back from the Metal Age.
In addition to these jars, the 1965 archaeological excavations done by Robert Fox
Robert Bradford Fox
Dr.Robert Bradford Fox was an anthropologist and leading historian on the prehispanic Philippines.In 1958, Fox led a National Museum team in conducting extensive excavations on two sites at Calatagan, Batangas in what may be considered the first systematic excavation involving the National Museum...
at Langen Island in El Nido, Palawan
El Nido, Palawan
El Nido is a first class municipality and managed resource protected area in the province of Palawan in the Philippines...
found out that a cave known as Leta-leta Cave
El Nido, Palawan
El Nido is a first class municipality and managed resource protected area in the province of Palawan in the Philippines...
was a burial site that dates to the Late Neolithic Period
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
.
Sagada customs
In the Sagada region in the Mountain ProvinceMountain Province
Mountain Province is a landlocked province of the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. Its capital is Bontoc and borders, clockwise from the south, Ifugao, Benguet, Ilocos Sur, Abra, Kalinga, and Isabela.Mountain Province is sometimes incorrectly named Mountain in some...
of the Island of Luzon, the ancient funeral norm of hanging coffins from mountain
Mountain
Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...
cliff
Cliff
In geography and geology, a cliff is a significant vertical, or near vertical, rock exposure. Cliffs are formed as erosion landforms due to the processes of erosion and weathering that produce them. Cliffs are common on coasts, in mountainous areas, escarpments and along rivers. Cliffs are usually...
s is still being practiced by some minority group
Minority group
A minority is a sociological group within a demographic. The demographic could be based on many factors from ethnicity, gender, wealth, power, etc. The term extends to numerous situations, and civilizations within history, despite the misnomer of minorities associated with a numerical statistic...
s. The purpose of suspending the casket from the mountain rocks is to bring the deceased closer to heaven.
In ancient times, the coffins were made from carved and hollowed-out wood. They are 'hung' into place through the use of projecting beam
Beam (structure)
A beam is a horizontal structural element that is capable of withstanding load primarily by resisting bending. The bending force induced into the material of the beam as a result of the external loads, own weight, span and external reactions to these loads is called a bending moment.- Overview...
s.
Tinguian customs
For many weeks, the TinguianTinguian
The Tinguian are an indigenous people from the mountain province of Abra in northwestern Luzon, in the Philippines.-External links:**...
people dress the dead body with the best garments, sit it on a chair, and sometimes put a lit tobacco source between the dead person’s lips.
Cebuano customs
Funeral traditions of the Cebuano peopleCebuano people
The Cebuano people , are a Visayan ethnic group in Cebu and form the second largest cultural-linguistic group in the Philippines.-History:...
also include nine-day recitation of the rosary
Rosary
The rosary or "garland of roses" is a traditional Catholic devotion. The term denotes the prayer beads used to count the series of prayers that make up the rosary...
, litanies, novenas, and Latin prayers after the burial, with the addition of chanting the Pahulayng Dayon or “Eternal Rest” (also known as "Gozos for the Dead"). The Cebuanos also have superstitious beliefs related to funerals. These superstitions include: placing funeral alms
Alms
Alms or almsgiving is a religious rite which, in general, involves giving materially to another as an act of religious virtue.It exists in a number of religions. In Philippine Regions, alms are given as charity to benefit the poor. In Buddhism, alms are given by lay people to monks and nuns to...
or limos into a container, avoidance of sweeping the flooring of the home of the deceased (wastes are picked by the hand instead of being swept by broom
Broom
A broom is a cleaning tool consisting of stiff fibers attached to, and roughly parallel to, a cylindrical handle, the broomstick. It is thus a variety of brush with a long handle. It is commonly used in combination with a dustpan....
s; other Filipinos also have this superstition), no bathing and no combing of hair on the part of relatives (other Filipinos too believe in this), placing worn mourning pins into the coffin during interment, preventing tears
Tears
Tears are secretions that clean and lubricate the eyes. Lacrimation or lachrymation is the production or shedding of tears....
from dropping onto the glass plate of the casket (in order for the departed soul to travel in peace
Peace
Peace is a state of harmony characterized by the lack of violent conflict. Commonly understood as the absence of hostility, peace also suggests the existence of healthy or newly healed interpersonal or international relationships, prosperity in matters of social or economic welfare, the...
), placing a chick
Chicken
The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
on top of the coffin of an individual who died due to a transgression (to hasten justice for the dead victim), wearing of black or white clothing during the interment (except for a child who is dressed with a red-colored garment, as a deterrent from seeing the ghost
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
of the dead relative), urging relatives to pass through under the casket before it is loaded into the funeral vehicle (to assist the surviving relatives in moving on with their life), marching the dead towards the church and the cemetery (known as the hatod, or “carrying the departed to his destination” on foot), consuming food only at the cemetery after the interment, and passing through smoke
Smoke
Smoke is a collection of airborne solid and liquid particulates and gases emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with the quantity of air that is entrained or otherwise mixed into the mass. It is commonly an unwanted by-product of fires , but may also be used for pest...
while still within the cemetery or by the gates of the cemetery (to disentangle the spirits of the dead from the bodies of the living).
Ilonggo customs
Merriment, singing, and poem recitations are components of funerals in OtonOton, Iloilo
Oton is a first class municipality in the province of Iloilo, Philippines. According to the 2000 census, it has a population of 65,374 people in 12,907 households.-Barangays:Oton is politically subdivided into 37 barangays.-Official Website:...
, Iloilo
Iloilo
Iloilo is a province of the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Iloilo occupies the southeast portion of Panay Island and is bordered by Antique Province to the west and Capiz Province and the Jintotolo Channel to the north. Just off Iloilo's southeast coast is Guimaras Province,...
. Gambling
Gambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
is also permitted because gaming contributions help assuage the expenses incurred for burying the dead.
Bilaan customs
The Bilaan people of MindanaoMindanao
Mindanao is the second largest and easternmost island in the Philippines. It is also the name of one of the three island groups in the country, which consists of the island of Mindanao and smaller surrounding islands. The other two are Luzon and the Visayas. The island of Mindanao is called The...
wrap their dead inside tree barks. Being enveloped as such, the dead person's body is then suspended from treetops.
Davao customs
Customs in Davao CityDavao City
The City of Davao is the largest city in the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. Its international airport and seaports are among the busiest cargo hubs in the Philippines....
include cutting rosaries that are placed within the hands of the departed (to sever the possibility of having a series of deaths), placement of a chick on the coffin during wakes, preventing teardrops from reaching coffins (in case of brutal deaths), breaking plates prior to taking the coffin out of any edifice, making children walk under a hoisted coffin before loading the latter into the hearse
Hearse
A hearse is a funerary vehicle used to carry a coffin from a church or funeral home to a cemetery. In the funeral trade, hearses are often called funeral coaches.-History:...
, and burning dried leaves or paper and applying the smoke to mourners' feet before leaving the burial ground.
Other burial customs
Elements of other Filipino superstitious beliefs entail the involvement of the sudden appearances of certain animals, particularly those that are black in color. Examples are the following: the appearance of a lingering black-colored butterflyButterfly
A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...
around an individual is taken to indicate that a next of kin of that person died; the sighting of a black-hued cat
Cat
The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
by an ill individual heading toward a hospital would mean that he or she may not survive his or her disease; the detection of an owl
Owl
Owls are a group of birds that belong to the order Strigiformes, constituting 200 bird of prey species. Most are solitary and nocturnal, with some exceptions . Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, although a few species specialize in hunting fish...
near the home of a sick individual signifies imminent death for that person.
Other beliefs pertaining to death are related to dreams, dining etiquette
Etiquette
Etiquette is a code of behavior that delineates expectations for social behavior according to contemporary conventional norms within a society, social class, or group...
, odor
Odor
An odor or odour is caused by one or more volatilized chemical compounds, generally at a very low concentration, that humans or other animals perceive by the sense of olfaction. Odors are also commonly called scents, which can refer to both pleasant and unpleasant odors...
s, unusual shapes of certain objects, children, and odd numbers. Examples of these types are as follows: not allowing family members to leave the home until used utensils have been cleansed (it is believed that a family member may pass away if this habit is not followed), consuming sour fruits in the evenings (to avoid early parental demise), avoiding taking photographs of three persons together (to avoid the early death of the individual placed in the middle), sudden arrival of a scent of a burning candle in the absence of a lit candle hints that a relative had just died, losing a tooth during a dream is an omen that a relative will soon die, a headless shadow of an individual forewarns that that person will pass away soon, preventing all family members from viewing the face of a dead person at funerals (to prevent the ghost of the departed from visiting the family resulting in the death of every family member), and lifting children related to the deceased over caskets before the entombment (to hinder the ghost of the dead relative from visiting the children).
External links
- Video of a Funeral in the Philippines, vids.myspace.com