All Saints Day at the highlands
Light a fire for the souls
I noticed since I was young, Halloween here in the Philippines has been greatly influenced by the American culture. Adorned in many houses especially in subdivisions, are numerous decorations from pumpkins, spiders, cobwebs and the usual monsters we grew up liking to fear like Dracula, Frankenstein, witches and the local mix of Aswangs, tikbalan, manananggal and white ladies. Those talk of ghost and other supernatural phenomenon that seems to populate our TV screens and print media whenever Halloween approaches have waned my interest recently. I used to like them growing up.
Twilight cemetery fire
I hope our media feature more on the interesting traditions of our locals and indigenous people. Once such tradition that only a few people knew is the Festival of Lights celebrated high up in the mountains of Sagada. I wrote about this before but I’d like to feature some photos I wasn’t able to post then. It’s a very interesting practice that should be included in your itinerary in case you decide to visit the place during Holloween.
The cross
All Saints day or Halloween has somehow, like Christmas, been reduced to commercialism. Although a lot of people still flock through the cemeteries to visit their departed love ones, I hope that it’s not just a mandatory practice to clean up the graves and socialize with the next graveyard neighbor and catch up on their lives. All Saint’s Day is about remembering our departed loved ones and let us remember in every candle lit and prayer. Happy Halloween!
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Tags: All Saints Day, Cordilleras, Events, Festivals, Mountain Province, People, Sagada
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Wednesday, November 1st, 2006 at 12:00 am 
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November 1st, 2006 at 3:37 am
Happy Halloween! I totally agree with you that the Philippines has a rich traditions when it comes to honoring the dead and should be featured during this season. Also, traditional belief in supernatural beings is very interesting. I’ll surely watch a show if they explained how the idea of tikbalangs and kapres came about.
November 1st, 2006 at 9:52 am
maganda yung pics, kakaiba pala dyan sa Sagada hindi tulad dito na kandila na ninanakaw kapag nakatalikod na yung may-ari.
ako naman baligtad, naiisip ko ang tradisyon ng all sould say dito sa pinas ay ibang iba sa western countries, tingin ko dito senti ang mga pinoy kapag nov 1, nagtitirik ng kandila at nagtitipon sa simenteryo. sa akin lang naman parang hinahanap ko ay yung sa ibang bansa na masya, may mga palamuti, masasaya mga bata, naalala rin naman yung mga mahal sa buhay na pumanaw pero masaya.
siguro yung mga napapanisn mo na may mga decor ay yung sa lugar ng mga mayayaman. dito kasi sa amin, nakakakita lang ako ng pumpik kapag magluluto na ng pinakbet, hehe.
ei happy halloween… ang ganda talaga ng mga pic, di pa ako nakapunta ng sagada.
November 1st, 2006 at 12:00 pm
The pics are really cool. Pramis, hindi edited yan ha hehe! Enjoy the holiday
November 1st, 2006 at 1:53 pm
That’s beautiful! I’ve never been to Sagada. I was expecting mummies in the tribal villages. I didn’t realize that they also have a rich culture influenced by Christianity.
November 1st, 2006 at 2:12 pm
Since I can’t visit my love ones who passed away..I already lit a candles for them just to remember how important they are to me…Thanks for sharing this only in the PHILS. traditions…
Take care…
November 1st, 2006 at 7:05 pm
napanood ko kanina sa TV patrol itong kagawian ng mga taga Sagada, imbes na kandila gumamamit sila ng kahoy, pinapa bless muna yung kahoy sa simbahan bago tutuloy sa siminteryo para sindihan.
November 1st, 2006 at 7:23 pm
galing naman ng pictures!
Wow ha.. I did not know about that “Festival of Lights” in Sagada..
Thanks for the info!
November 2nd, 2006 at 6:34 am
happy halloween ferdz!
cruise pareho tayo, nakita ko din sa tv patrol yung tradition, its nice yun nga lang dami daw dumi eh..
i haven’t been in sagada pero sana makarating din ako dyan
i like philippine halloween, specialy the candles at night na nasa front door, i have a chilldhood memories of those kasi, i think all of us naman hehe.. and now uso na din ang costume party which is nice too
November 2nd, 2006 at 11:26 am
i love your entry. astig. it’s ashamed that i am not even aware of this Fetsival of Lights in Sagada. I have been there and one thing I can’t get out of my head is the cemetery there. it was such a peaceful sight. i’ve been fascinated with cemeteries and graves dati pa since bata a ako…weird no? basta, gusto ko yung ‘peacefulness’ sa lugar na yun na hindi ko kailanman nadama sa ibang mga lugar na napuntahan ko. it’s like i find literal ‘peace’ with the dead. i am amazed by the impact of your first shot. it remind me of a photo i have seen a long, long time ago, titled, “The Orphan”. Of course, the theme was rather different but it brought so much impact to me that i have no doubt it was my driving force to take photography in college. parang gush of drive…ganun.
Happy Halloween!!!
November 2nd, 2006 at 4:41 pm
i guess it’s more in keeping with traditions kaya sa sagada, ganon ang ginagawa nila. now that you guys reminded of it, i can really smell the pine wood burning. hmmm, makaplano na nga bumalik doon by month’s end
thanks for the reminder ferdz. hmmm, isang magkikita-kita din tayo somewhere in the boondocks o sa galaan, hahahaha
November 3rd, 2006 at 10:28 am
man, next halloween, i should be in sagada!
November 3rd, 2006 at 1:40 pm
spooky photos… medyo natakot ako sa 3rd picture… nice!.. we dont celebrate halloween pero we give candies sa mga children…
November 3rd, 2006 at 4:50 pm
ayus ah! sagada malamig tapos pa-apoyan… ramdam talaga ang halloween
November 4th, 2006 at 4:52 pm
good orange lights on the images, a real Halloween motif. but about the Philippines’ rich tradition, which has adopted Halloween (sort of), we even have Thanksgiving, as I’ve seen in some restaurants. They serve adorned turkey. Unlike with Halloween, which parallels with our Feast of the Dead, Thanksgiving parallels with what? You tell me.
November 5th, 2006 at 2:52 pm
happy halloween! er- belated..
hindi kandila ang gamit? bago ah.. sabagay, mas mura yunhehe.. nice shots!
November 5th, 2006 at 2:58 pm
happy halloween! er- belated..
hindi kandila ang gamit? bago ah.. sabagay, mas mura yunhehe.. nice shots!
God bless
November 5th, 2006 at 11:31 pm
Wow, gorgeous site, cool layout!:)
November 6th, 2006 at 1:32 am
wow. just great capture. the light is just right!
November 6th, 2006 at 6:05 pm
Galing nito. Great photos. Excellent work!
Would love to do a link exchange!
http://nostalgiamanila.blogspot.com
Keep up the good work!
Sincerely,
–Nostalgia Manila
November 6th, 2006 at 7:54 pm
ok to ah, di ko alam to… ganda ng mga pics, i like all three of them…
galeng! good job!
November 6th, 2006 at 9:09 pm
I wasn’t aware of this Festival. I will keep this in mind for next year. Thanks for the tip.
Nice pictures and account as usual.
How is your new work? Happy?
November 7th, 2006 at 12:18 pm
nice skin! interesting site!
November 8th, 2006 at 10:46 am
i like the halloween special of gma 7’s reporters’ notebook. they were trying to discover the truth behind some aswang stories but ends up seeing the horror that poverty and prejudice brought to the town’s people.
November 9th, 2006 at 1:11 am
Very spooky but nice shots! I remember one of my family (in Phils) halloween traditions is to prepare (cook) & offer some food for the dead.Syempre yung mga paborito nila noong buhay pa sila,lol
November 9th, 2006 at 8:21 pm
Wow. Haunting, but very lovely pics… perfect movie set pieces. Works really well with the music I’m listening to at the moment. Hahaha!!! That image of the kid lighting the fire is sooo poignant and poetic.
Well done, matey!
November 14th, 2006 at 10:07 pm
This is a great series.
November 17th, 2006 at 12:12 am
cool photos…i never seen it before…look like they burn cemetary….kinda scary atmoshere….awesome sereis:-)
November 27th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
[...] 8. Campo Santo The Sagada Cemetery. Ferdz blogged about a tradition of burning bonfires instead of candles during All Saints’ Day. His post here. [...]
January 15th, 2008 at 1:50 am
I’m a big Sagada fan and I’m ashamed to have never heard of this. I’m coming back soon! YAY!
February 29th, 2008 at 12:50 am
[...] I hope our media feature more on the interesting traditions of our locals and indigenous people. Once such tradition that only a few people knew is the Festival of Lights celebrated high up in the mountains of Sagada. I wrote about this before but I’d like to feature some photos I wasn’t able to post then. It’s a very interesting practice that should be included in your itinerary in case you decide to visit the place during Holloween… from All Saints’ Day At The Highlands [...]
November 4th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
Hi. Just curious: gaano na kaya katagal itong tradition na ito sa Sagada? Because we know they previously hung the coffins of their dead, di ba? That’s the “old tradition” that is no longer practiced. E itong bonfire kaya? It would be interesting to know how this evolved.
November 4th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Hi Jeff, I think we can trace this since they have a record of the names of the dead when they first started this tradition. We’ll look into it more when I visit the place again.