Filipino death culture in a Traditional Roman Catholic perspective
By: Mervin Manaois | Date published: January 5, 2024
Amid the Christmas cheers and carols, people celebrate the season differently, where someone departing can be a reflection of mortality and a celebration of life.
Marcus Concina, a Roman Catholic and Postulant of the
Archconfraternity of St. Stephen of Our Lady of Victories Church said that
Filipinos tend to deal with death somewhat lightheartedly because after death
is a life after it, all thanks to our Catholic milieu.
It is as if death is one of the catalysts which brings
families together. It is ironic if you think about it; we celebrate someone’s
life once they are gone.
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority report released last February 2023, there were an average of 2,409 registered deaths per day in the Philippines in 2021. The average is equivalent to eight deaths per 1,000 population, 100 deaths per hour, or two deaths per minute. A total of 879,429 deaths occurred in the country that year, an increase of 43.2% from 613,936 in 2020.
Ischaemic heart disease was the leading cause of death in
the Philippines in 2021, making up 155,775 (17.7% share) of total registered
deaths. Cerebrovascular diseases followed at 85,904 (9.8%) and COVID-19 at
79,423 (9.0%).
Around 31 July 2023, Ischaemic heart disease remained the leading cause of death in the country, having 44,770 deaths (19.3%). Neoplasms followed with a total of 24,066 deaths (10.4%) and cerebrovascular diseases at 23,951 recorded deaths (10.3%). 900 (0.4%) identified COVID-19-related deaths were recorded in 2023 compared to 8,576 (3.1%) last 2022.
Concina then said that Filipinos also put a lot of stock in remembering the life of the deceased during funerals. Their quotable quotes, the memories they shared with those they left behind, and the highlight reel of their lives condensed into an “mp4” or video file played on repeat on the television at the funeral parlor with their favorite songs playing in the background. These are a few examples of the rituals Filipinos have during funerals.
Honoring the dead can be universal, especially in the
Philippines. The funeral culture in the country can be grand or simple, with
meals, drinks, music, flowers, and homilies prepared for families and
friends and elegies for the deceased. It remains a solemn occasion that brings
together relatives and friends alike.
You will usually see in Filipino funerals that sometimes
they bring in strangers to gamble,
eat meals, or tell stories about the departed. Others would pray the rosary for
nine nights on the traditional belief that the deceased will transition into
the “spirit world.” On the fortieth day after death, families would hold
another mass so the soul could ascend to the afterlife.
Many of such cultures surrounding death and funerals in the country also encompass “kasabihan” or proverbs after attending a wake or service. It includes kasabihans, such as avoiding taking out food or dusting off one’s clothes so the spirit does not follow you.
From another religious perspective,
Alexander Jayson Manaligod, a Traditional Roman Catholic, looks at life, death,
funerals, and the culture in his belief. He has been serving as a Senior
Acolyte, also of the Archconfraternity of St. Stephen of Our Lady of Victories Church
since 2019.
If one looks into our death culture,
we tend to memorialize everything from the selection of elaborate caskets and
the prolonged length of the funeral to the retention of keepsakes. We even
memorialize the 40-day and death anniversaries despite its removal in the
current typical editions of the New Mass, only for it to return as an
additional Missal Supplement for use in the Philippines.
Even with the rising rate of
cremation, which aims to dispose of the body quickly, the cremated remains
still get a level of memorialization of casketed wakes with tacky lights,
draperies, flora, and whatnots.
This level of memorialization is
something that we see in secular countries like the US, where funerals are made
short or none at all. Cremation is becoming popular to quicken the handling of
the body and try to catch up with everything left behind during those few days
or hours that you are supposed to be working; that is a very worldly and
utilitarian view of death that seeks to immediately replace what is broken
without further ado, in this case, the dead.
These attempts to have all these echo how Traditional
Catholics perform the funeral rites: surrounding the body with at least six
lighted beeswax candles and perfuming them with multiple swings of incense. The
same absolution dirge sung to deceased Catholic Kings ages ago is also sung to
them. Expensive items and expensive art, indeed, are something that we
Filipinos associate with “marangal na libing” (honorable funeral).
This beautification of death and
funerals reflects three things that are fundamental to the Traditional Catholic
doctrines and Filipino sensibilities on the dead.
Firstly, the dignity of the deceased as a human being is
respected and taught to those who are living. Anyone who dies is given almost
the same format of funeral, is said the same Mass, burned the same expensive
candles and incense, and buried on the same earth as anyone else, whether they
may be rich or poor.
Secondly, this beauty is reflective of either Heaven, where
the deceased will go, or, at least for Catholics, to arouse the duty of
everyone to pray for the soul to be released from Purgatory, which is a
transitive and painfully purifying stage before entering Heaven.
Thirdly, it is a reminder of our
mortality that there will be one day when we will lie on that casket,
surrounded by flowers, candles, incense, and prayers, echoing the welcome sign
in a cemetery that translates to: “Ako ngayon, ikaw bukas” (Me today, you tomorrow).
The third one is particular for Manaligod. On one of the first days of the month, their church offers the same Mass for the dead but with an empty coffin yet surrounded by expensive materials. He added that one may be squeamish with discussing death with anyone, but these constant reminders of Memento mori (Remember that you will die) urge us to live a life of virtue and simultaneously provide prayers on behalf of the dead.
For us, the belief in the Memento
Mori not only sanctions us with duties that we must do, but it also conditions
us for the reality of the untimeliness of death, whether it be Christmas or
birthdays.
Here, we have entangled once again in a great mystery that
is a reality in front of us, and to sugarcoat deaths with Christmas cheer is a
major faux pas. Traditional Catholics learn from the Feast of the Holy
Innocents a few days after Christmas: joy would greatly demean the grief of
those who mourn, and the glory of the deceased would not offer the mourner
comfort in a joyous season. To be one in mourning is in order even at this time
of cheer, and it is a must to mourn regardless of what it is.
We regret, and we must lament, that deaths during Christmas would ruin such a family event, and we must not intervene aside from comfort and support in these unfortunate times. It is not for one to dictate how to deal with death when it strikes us, aside from allowing ourselves to mourn despite the season and cling to those experiences as we exert our faculties of memory in times of grief.
Echoing what the Catholic Credo professes: “I look forward
to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come,” funerals,
especially Filipino funerals, give us a great exercise of our memories. While
we become sorrowful as we suffer the loss of a loved one, we take joy in things
given to us through the life of the person and look forward to the
glorification of that loved one. It is for us, for them to attain the paradise
that God would provide and the hope that all of us will see each other again.
| Funerals are a celebration of hope, which could be
a Christmas celebration. It is that hope that would sustain us throughout our
days living. |
Death will remain a topic some people choose to avoid discussing until they have to. No matter what religious beliefs people may have, they will see death and those who passed away as something to mourn, grieve, and never forget. However, it is a part of everyone’s lives where things come to an end.
Whether you are a human, animal, or machine, you make significant contributions to others around you. Even if you think you have not done anything spectacular – someone or something appreciated your presence. Should one of our family members, friends, pets, or anyone that holds dear to our hearts be gone, let us grieve but strive to celebrate their passing, their memories, contributions, and impact on everyone around them.
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