During the Pre-Hispanic period the early Filipinos had believed in the concept of life after death. This belief in life after death prompted the Filipinos to create the customs and beliefs of the cemetery to honor the dead through rituals. Due to the different cultures of different parts of the Philippines, many different burial practices have also emerged from various tribes. For example, The Manobos must bury their corpses in the trees, Ifugaos have to put their bodies on chari before being taken to the cave and buried elsewhere. These funeral practices and cultural beliefs are the myths created by these native people to try to understand the world they occupy as a way to offset their lack of understanding.
Now the Filipinos retain the beliefs of life after the death of their ancestors. That is why it is only customary for Filipinos today to also honor the dead through different practices. The most prominent practice of honoring the dead is to wake up as a way for loved ones to truly mourn the deaths of their loved ones. Most Filipino Christians survive in funeral homes but others also hold them in their own homes where the wake will be held for three to seven days and family members will be required to wear black or white during the procession. Unlike their Christian brothers, Filipino Muslims are required to bury the dead 24 hours after the time of death. This habit begins when the spread of the disease is a prominent risk, the Muslims are required to bury the corpse as soon as possible for health reasons such as avoiding the widespread disease that can come from decomposing corpses. One thing that is common between these two systems is that both practices believe in mourning even after the funeral. In the case of Muslim Filipinos, the mourning period lasts for 40 days, where they are required to wear black clothes. Filipino Christians have "witnesses", or death warnings, and mourning on the 40th day.
Video Funeral practices and burial customs in the Philippines
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Wakes
When a person dies in the Philippines, Filipino Catholics, such as Tagalog, generally hold a sound known as lamay or paglalamay, a vigilance that usually lasts three to seven years. night, but it can take longer if the bereaved family awaits the relation from afar. During this time, the corpses are cleaned and embalmed placed in coffins, and displayed at the home of the deceased or a funeral home. The coffin is traditionally surrounded by funeral lights, guest logbooks, donation boxes, and flowers. Family members, relatives, and acquaintances participate in candlelight.
In addition to offering condolences, mourners and visitors make financial contributions (abuloy) to help ease funeral and funeral expenses. Food and drinks are usually served by grieving people during the night, and typical activities performed outside or near the wake area include engaging in conversation, singing, playing guitar and gambling - like playing card games - to keep mourners awake.
It is socially acceptable for visitors to ask abandoned questions that are considered sensitive in other cultures. This includes how a dead person dies, if he is suffering, or the cost of hospitalization or care. Such personal questions show the affection and caring that is legitimate to the deceased and the bereaved. Other people also usually offer mass, novena, and prayer for the benefit of the deceased.
On the day of the funeral, the coffin is generally loaded into a hearse or borne by family members, relatives, or friends in the procession to the church and then the funeral. Other mourners followed the hearse during the funeral parade. Catholic burial involves Mass celebrations, while Protestant cemeteries include hymn singing and prayer readings by a priest.
The traditional colors worn at funerals and underwear are black, except for Filipino Filipinos and Ilocanos, who usually wear only white clothing. If white clothing is worn, it is customary to have a small mourning pin, a black rectangle on the left chest. Some funerals have men wearing Tagalog Barong and black trousers while wearing black armbands; because of formal wear, acceptable traditional colors including white shades. Women are often dressed in black or white, with people in more conservative areas also wearing headscarves and headbands that match their clothes.
After the burial, the pelayat offered a prayer like a rosary for the dead every night for nine days, a custom called pasiyam or twilight (literally, "what was done for nine days"). This novena period often ends with service followed by formal dining with family and close friends. The habit is based on the people's belief that the souls of those who go into the spirit world on the ninth day after death. This is followed by a special prayer or mass prayer on the forty day, when the soul is believed to end its earthly adventure and rise to the hereafter, the period of time evoking the days between the Resurrection and the Ascension of Christ. Mourning period extends for a period of one year when another service is held at the first death warning, called luksÃÆ'Â ¢ (lit, "descendant of mourning").
All Souls Day
Catholics and Aglipayan Philippines pay homage to the ancestors on All Saints' Day and All Soul Day. People gathered in the cemetery to clean and decorate the family tomb as early as All Hallow's Eve, then offer prayers, candles, flowers, and sometimes food. More often than not, mourners continue to stay overnight in graves, eat and rejoice to spend time and keep company dead. A popular hobby of children during such precautions is collecting candles from melted candles to play or sell to candle makers.
Maps Funeral practices and burial customs in the Philippines
Local custom
Luzon
Apayao
The Apayaos, also known as Isnegs or Isnags, from the Cordillera Administrative Region wrap the deceased on the mat ( ikamen ) and carried on the shoulders of direct male family members. The items placed inside the coffin to help the deceased on his journey like a stale jar to quench the thirst of a deceased person, spears and shields are also put in to help him protect himself from the enemy. The coffin would then be lowered either in their home kitchen area or on the burial site owned by his family.
Benguet
For eight days, the native of Benguet closed the eyes of the dead and then sat in a chair placed next to the main entrance of the house. Arms and legs are tied together in a sitting position. The ritual bangil was performed by the elders on the eve of the funeral, which is a narrative sung from the biography of the deceased. During the burial, the departed are directed to heaven by hitting bamboo sticks together.
Tagalog
The Tagalogs had many burial practices before the Spanish colonization and the Catholic introduction. In rural Cavite, the tree is used as a burial place. The dying man selects the tree beforehand, so that when he becomes seriously ill or obviously dies of old age, a hut is built close to the tree. The corpse's corpse is then buried vertically inside a hollowed-out tree trunk. Before colonization, a statue known as likha was also buried with the dead inside the tree trunk. In the Mulanay, Quezon and surrounding areas, the dead are buried in a limestone sarcophagus along with a statue of likha . However, the practice disappeared in the 16th century because of Spanish colonization. In Calatagan, Batangas and the surrounding area, the dead are buried under the earth along with the likha statues. The statues, measuring 6-12 inches, are personified depictions of anitos . Likha statues are not limited to funeral practices because they are also used in homes, prayers, agriculture, medicine, travel, and other means.
Ilocano
The Filipinos in Ilocos have a funeral and burial tradition known as a pompon or a funeral.
Build
A dead man was prepared by his wife to wake up, known in Ilocano as the bagongon . Usually, only the wife will wear the body, believing that the spirit of the dead can convey a message through her. There are many customs and beliefs followed, such as the placement of coffins, lit logs in front of the house, chanting (crying dung-aw), to give one dead thing and ensuring safe passage to heaven. During waking, the immediate family members of the deceased are not allowed to work, cook, or carry heavy objects. The ceremonial clothing of female mourners for vigil is black, while their head and shoulders are covered with a black veil called manto .
Funeral
The window is closed before the coffin leaves the house, while care is taken to prevent the coffin touching every part of the house. This is to prevent the deceased's spirit from lazing and bring disaster to the household; for some Filipinos, a coffin that bumps into anything during the funeral means that someone else will die soon. The clothes and belongings of the deceased were burned and thrown into the river. After the funeral ceremony, family members wash their hair with shampoo made from burning, water, and stale rice stalks, called "gulgol" to remove the influence of the deceased's spirit. Rice cakes and stale are offered to participants after each prayer session. On the ninth night, the family had a party after the novena, and did it again after saying a prayer on the first anniversary of death.
Ilongot
Ilongot is buried in a sitting position, and if a woman, her hands are tied to her feet, to prevent her "ghost" out of roaming.
Itneg
The Itnegs of Abra has a habit of burying their dead under their home.
PalaweÃÆ' Â ± o
One of the ancient customs of burying the dead in the Philippines is through the use of a funeral bottle known as Manunggul jars . This ancient pottery is found in Manunggul Cave on the island of Palawan. Characteristics of a jar for the dead is the presence of an anthropomorphic human figure on a pot blanket. These numbers manifest the soul of riding a boat for the dead while voyages to their shelter in the afterlife. This container has been dated 710 BC to 890 BC. There are also boating figures who paddle paddles, wear headbands, jaw-bands, and people with arms folded across the chest area. The last is the method of arranging the remains of the dead.
Other similar anthropomorphic urns are also found in Pinol (also spelled as PiÃÆ' Â ± ol), Maitum, in Saranggani Province on the island of Mindanao. This burial jar comes from the Metal Age.
In addition to these jars, the 1965 archaeological excavations conducted by Robert Fox on Langen Island in El Nido, Palawan discovered that a cave known as the Leta-leta Cave is a burial site dating from the Late Neolithic Age.
In Sagada
In Sagada, Mountain Province, the ancient funeral norms of coffins hanging from mountain cliffs are still practiced by some minority groups. The purpose of suspending the coffin from the rocks of the mountain is to bring the deceased closer to heaven.
In ancient times, coffins were made of carved and perforated wood. They are 'hung' in place through the use of projection beams.
Tinguian
For weeks, Tinguian people dressed the corpse with the best clothes, sat in the chair, and occasionally laid out the source of the flaming tobacco among the lips of the dead.
The Visayas
The Visayas has six major islands, namely: Panay, Negros, Cebu, Bohol, Samar, and Leyte. The islands are home to different ethnic groups, and have similarities and differences in their traditions.
Ancient Practices in Visayas
The pagoda is a ritual performed when all efforts to heal the dying have failed, in an attempt to recall the deceased soul (1). A coconut shell filled with water was placed on the belly of the dying man and played to the song: "Return, soul, return" as noted by Alcina in 1668. In the case of a datu, some slaves can be sacrificed to calm the forefathers. spirit.
A corpse is anointed and prepared, and covered with gold and jewelry. The deceased dressed in gold to ensure acceptance is ready in the afterlife, and gold is placed in the mouth and between the layers of many blankets covering the body.
Visayan coffins called longon are made of hardwood made of one tree trunk, fitted and pegged with lids cut from the same tree and sealed with resin. Prominent people and datus can be buried in coffins with decorative carvings, and carvings are often executed by future residents. Poor Visayans are buried wrapped in banana leaves or simple caskets made of thin boards or bamboo.
The body was placed in a coffin with all body cavities filled with betel sap, along with jewelry and heirlooms. Plates and plates can be placed under the head like a pillow, or over face and chest, in some areas some corpses can be decorated with masks or funnel made of gold. Dead babies, newborns, or aborted babies are buried in crocks or jars, even Chinese porcelain.
The grave sites vary greatly in Visayas. Some graves are outside the village boundary, dug by the river or on the beach. Cave, or small island will be used if available. Spiritual leaders and class members datu are not buried in public graves, and buried under their homes or in the case of babaylan, exposed to elements hanging from branches of balete trees.
Wakes survive as long as the abandoned family can offer food and drinks for the guests. Traditional maids are generally older women, singing songs to emphasize the sadness of the survivors, and praise the quality of the dead. The eulogies are considered a form of ancestor worship because they are addressed directly to the dead and include a prayer of petition.
Widows and widowers observe three days of fasting and silence, where they do not bathe or comb their hair, and can even shave their hair and eyebrows as a sign of special sadness. They do not eat cooked food until the period of mourning ends. In the case of the death of a datu, his wives, or children: the community is placed under a strictly mourning requirement called pumaraw where no one wore colored clothing, climbed a coconut tree, or fish in a particular stream ; and the spears should be carried down and the side arms facing upwards. A pathetic silence must be preserved, and the family can be enslaved as punishment for mourning grief.
Cebuano
The funeral tradition of the Cebuano people also includes the reading of the rosary, litany, novena, and Latin prayer after the burial, plus the singing of "Pahulayng Dayon" or "Eternal Rest" (also known as "Gozos i> for the Dead "). Cebuanos also has superstitious beliefs associated with funerals that include: placing alms burial or limos into containers, refraining from sweeping the floor of the deceased's house (waste collected by hand instead of being swept by brooms; others Filipinos also have superstition ), not bathing and not combing the hair on the part of the relatives (other Filipinos also believe in this), placing an old mourning pin into the coffin during the funeral, preventing tears from falling onto the coffin glass plate (for the soul to go to travel in peace), placing chicks on the coffin of someone who died for a violation (to speed up justice for the deceased), wearing black or white clothes during the funeral (except a child dressed in red, as a barrier from seeing a ghost dead relatives), urging relatives to pass under the coffin before being loaded into the dead bodies (to help the surviving rail) indigenous people who continue their lives), marching to death to church and grave (known as hatod, or "bringing people to their destination" by walking legs), consume only food in the grave after burial, and pass through the smoke while still in the grave or at the gate of the grave (to decipher the spirits of the dead from the body of the living).
Ilonggo
The melodious readings, singing, and poetry are funerary components in Oton, Iloilo. Gambling is also permitted because the contribution of the game helps finance the expenditure incurred in burying the dead.
Mindanao
Mindanao, as the second largest island in the Philippines, consists of several ethnic tribes that are influenced by Islamic culture. It consists of ARMM, Caraga, Davao, Northern Mindanao, Soccsksargen and Zamboanga Peninsula, marking 8 degrees North and 125 degrees East on the map.
' T'boli
The T'boli tribe developed near Lake Sebu and has an interesting philosophy of death and life. They believe that death occurs when the spirit leaves the body permanently by an evil spirit, Busao . So their burial habits begin by putting a corpse in a boat-shaped coffin, which will be celebrated from the fifth week of the month (and even a year for honorable people like datu). The tribe often throws parties to warnings in a positive atmosphere. This body, along with a wooden boat will be burned at the end of the long wake, where liquid extract of firewood will be collected for a place to eat. The tribe believes that the good qualities of the dead will be passed through the liquid extract.
Mamanuas
This tribe that occupies Surigao del Norte has customs that fear the spirit of the dead. The tribal people move their settlements when death occurs, because they believe that the spirits of the dead will return for revenge. So the corpse was buried on the day of his death, using leaves, mats and coffins to cover the body either in a sitting or standing position. Just like ordinary funerals, these coffins are buried underground or sometimes displayed on platforms for people in high positions in their communities. The people mourn and pray for the dead for about 9 days.
Tausug
The Tausugs who occupy Sulu are basically Muslims, thus, they have set a set of burial habits in the influence of their religion. The burial process contains four steps: Sutchihun (body cleansing), Punch (wrapping the body), Sambayanganun (mandatory prayer), and Hikubul (burial). The cemetery is made hollow in 6 to 9 feet in the North-South direction, to be prayed for by a religious man for a peaceful dead person. After that, the cemetery will be closed using ding ding hali (meaning "the rest of the wall") made from a large flat plate.
Manobo
Manobos occupied the hinterland that is now in Davao. Initially, they wrapped bodies in mats and bamboo slats to be hung on a tree or placed corpses on a flyover station (like platform) beside the trees. Placing the body in an elevated place is believed to help the souls of the dead reach heaven. However, after the Americans introduced the Abaca plantation system in the 20th century, the custom turned into burying the corpses beneath the house. Because of plantations, it becomes impossible to get out of their place as they did before. For Ata-Manobos who occupy the Davao forest area, having a unique superstition in teaching Antuk (puzzle) in addition to the awakening ceremony will bring bad luck. So in the habit of waking up pleasant Ata-manobos, the people close to the deceased gather and sit around the corpse (in a reclining position) and chatting, telling stories, singing, dancing, playing instruments and more to improve the mood of sadness.
Badjao
Similar to Manobo, the Badjao also conducted a religious process to bury the dead. First, the dead corpse will be positioned in the Umboh center (floating hut) where it is placed parallel to the side wall. Preparation until the funeral itself occurs during waking; first, food as a tribute will be brought, and Song of the Dead will be sung. Second, the wrapping bandage is cut and washed in water while the Imam (religious man) cleans the body. Third, the dead will be dressed and decorated, which will position itself lying on the floor. Next, the Imam finally prayed for the dead before the dressing covered the entire body. Then batik (decoration) will be spread throughout the cocoon. After completing this ceremony in a single day, the Imam finally prayed in the four corners of the buried site, then the Sundok place (a barrel believed to contain a spirit) near the head of the dead).
Subanu
Subanu people who flourish near the riverbank have different burial procedures depending on the cause of death. For ordinary causes (dying of age), the body is placed in graves for ordinary families. However, if for special causes (such as infectious diseases and illness), Balian or shaman is called to apply herbs and prayers to the dead for casting out evil spirits. After that, whether they will prepare to build by carving a tree trunk to make a coffin. Sometimes, the body is only placed in an empty cave or under the house, so they can prevent wild dogs from digging graves. It is Subanu's unique custom to place Chinese jars containing offerings or food with corpses, so that the afterlife journey will succeed. For highly respected members of the community, two people (one Balian) chant Geloy (funeral song) during Gukas (ritual ceremonies for special people). Like the mass, this ritual ceremony is accompanied by food and wine called Pangasi dedicated to the dead.
B'laan
The B'laan tribe is probably the most popular Mindanao inhabitants of the Mountain provinces for Gantung Sagi Casket. Even before the influence of Christianity, the elders feared to be buried in the ground, for they wanted to reach heaven in their afterlife. Due to love and concern, the family will hang coffins on the cave wall (like Lumiang cave ). However, such funeral procedures are similar to other fishing communities such as the Banton of Romblon. Another unique characteristic of this pre-colonial burial custom contains the tradition of inserting a jar into a coffin. This is similar to the Manunggul urn found in the Tabon cave, Palawan, making the habit already existed before the pre-colonial era. For B'laan people, the tree serves as a final resting zone, which is a unique pattern for most of the Mindanao tribal customs as well.
Influenced Practices
Spanish Influence
Native Filipinos have harbored their own religion long before the Spanish arrived at their shores. Along with these religions, it is an appropriate funeral practice to accompany such religions. Given that Spain's occupancy rate in the Philippines has lasted nearly four hundred years, it would not be a reckless assumption that Catholicism should become widespread or has become a major religion for all nations. This conclusion, however, will be very problematic as this is the way of the real truth. Persisting through the Spanish occupation, the indigenous tribes of the Philippines continue with their respective religions and hence, with their customary practices of burial. But the influence of Spain, greatly affect the religious traditions and customs in the area around the big trading city and the capital. These influences include burial locations, body positions and funeral decorations to name a few.
Pre-Hispanic Filipinos hold their funeral rights with great respect, as most tribes believe that if the funeral process does not work out well, the dead will return to the land of the living. The Spaniards also took care of the deceased with great respect, though not for the same reason as the native Filipino. Nevertheless, this commonality serves as a starting point, a fulcrum, to gradually instill a Catholic culture into the practice of the native Filipino burial. One area where the Spanish government immediately acted was the ban on crematory practices. This is due to the fact that "cremation is forbidden by the Catholic Church because it contradicts the belief that the dead will be resurrected by the second coming of Christ, which requires the body to be whole." This idea of ​​awakening would not be well taken by the Filipinos at that time, and as a result Spain was asking Jesuit help to try and turn the Filipinos into Catholicism. This is accompanied by the fact that repentance must be accompanied by the assurance that this resurrection is by no means evil. With the slow spread of Catholic beliefs and practices, there is more uniformity associated with burial in areas that have been influenced by Spanish influence. This new funeral standard is then subject to the criteria and requirements set by the Roman Catholic Church.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the separate cemetery execution of the central church will become widespread, mainly due to the epidemic of cholera and public health. The creation of a cemetery is another movement of a traditional burial site commonly used by Filipinos, formerly "burial under houses, inside houses, or in caves and cave shelters." This is the case for Filipino natives because they feel that the dead are still part of the community, even though their participation and presence are changing drastically. This step by the Spanish government is a substitute for the sacred space offered to the dead, a sanctity that must be respected so that the dead can pass.
Until the twenty-first century, many or even all, these religious practices have now been widely accepted and accepted in Filipino society.
American Influence
After the three centuries power of the Spaniards in the Philippines came the American Occupation. American culture and influence began to find a place in the context of the Philippines using various media, especially the use of free trade. In this trade for and with the American market, interdependence between America and Philippines is established. Another media of cultural assimilation from America is the application of their educational system during the first decade of their occupation, all of which show a more general effect in the political and cultural development of Filipinos. With the new education system, young Filipinos are taught various American cultural tools such as their songs, values ​​and ideals, and assimilation to their traditions. All these factors brought about by America allow for heterogeneous assimilation between two different cultures that produce unique results from certain American influences that shape the image of the Philippines differently. From this, it is a rich source for understanding the nation in its present situation and its historical context.
In connection with cemetery practices, Filipino culture has borrowed much from America. For example, in the Philippines, it is in the tradition that family and friends hold the body of the deceased in a coffin for 5 to 7 days to be seen; this is patterned from the Visitation which is practiced also in America, where they host the deceased body of the deceased and treated with various cosmetics at the funeral home for its look and simplicity. Both cultures adapt to the implementation of similar grief rituals. Another turning point of American influence is the practice of cremation. Drawing much from the Catholic faith, many Filipinos do not cremate because they believe that the body must remain intact to fulfill and prepare for the resurrection of the dead. The Filipinos claim that cremation should not be observed because the Catholic church forbids this practice, but as early as 1963 the ban was lifted and this point was emphasized in the revised 1983 Kanon Act.
Chinese Influence
Chinese-Filipino burial and funerals services are heavily dependent on the family religion of the deceased. There is a mixture of religions, such as Buddhist, Catholic, Born-Again Chrisitian, in Philippine Philippine-Philippines sector. This is largely due to the fact that early Chinese settlers in the country were Buddhists, while their children and grandchildren will combine the country's mainstream religion because of their education and exposure based in the Philippines. Therefore, most Chinese-Filipino burial practices are a mixture of the basic funeral practices of the above-mentioned religions.
The Chinese-Filipino family, casually called chinoy, practiced a number of rituals whenever a loved one died. Most of these practices are derived from Chinese traditions and Buddhism with little merging of other religions. Traditional Chinese practices involve burning paper versions of material items such as houses, cars, helicopters, cruise ships, and money, so that the deceased will be able to enjoy as in the afterlife. Lovers are not allowed to cut their keys for forty days and are encouraged to wear white from head to toe. Aspects of Buddhism combined with these customs are the burning of incense and the offering of fruits as a sign of respect to the dead. Other religious factors depend heavily on the religion of the deceased and the one he loves. If he is a Catholic/Protestant, then there will be a mass/sermon held during his funeral.
Other practices
Superstitious beliefs about death require the sudden appearance of certain animals, especially those who are black. An example is: the appearance of black butterflies lingering around the individual is a sign that someone's close relative has died; the sick to the hospital who saw the black cat would not survive with their condition; seeing an owl near the home of a sick individual signals the imminent death of death.
Other beliefs related to death are related to dreams, eating etiquette, smells, unusual forms of certain things, children, and odd numbers. Examples of this type are: do not allow family members to leave the house until the equipment used has been cleaned (it is believed family members may die if the habit is not followed), consume acids at night (to avoid premature deaths), avoid taking photos from three people together (to avoid the initial death of the middle-placed individual), the sudden scent of a burning candle - without candles burning anywhere - suggests that a relative recently died, losing his teeth during a dream is a sign that a relatives will soon die, the headless shadow of an individual who warns that the person will soon die, preventing all family members from seeing the face of the dead at the cemetery (to prevent ghosts who go from visiting families resulting in the death of each family member); and lifting children associated with the deceased over the coffin before the funeral (to obstruct the dead relatives' ghosts from visiting the children).
References
External links
- Funeral Videos in Philippines, vids.myspace.com
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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