{"id":133,"date":"2013-11-01T11:03:21","date_gmt":"2013-11-01T18:03:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/66.147.244.209\/~canadiu3\/?p=133"},"modified":"2014-01-15T07:38:40","modified_gmt":"2014-01-15T15:38:40","slug":"a-birthday-cake-for-all-saints-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2013\/11\/01\/a-birthday-cake-for-all-saints-day\/","title":{"rendered":"A birthday cake for All Saints’ Day"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"My<\/a>
My youngest brother, holding his birthday cake<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

All Saints’ Day is not just like any other holiday for our family. Yes, we gather at one place, prepare some food, catch up with each other\u2019s lives, but we don\u2019t just light candles beside the tombs of our departed loved ones\u2014we also light a birthday candle\u2014for my youngest sibling.<\/p>\n

A celebration of life that was taken and life that was renewed. It is indeed ironic, but we, Filipinos are known for our ability to make things a bit less complicated\u2014and that\u2019s we have been doing for the past 23 years.<\/p>\n

We have to admit that it\u2019s quite difficult to commemorate the dead and celebrate life. Sometimes, our emotions are also confused as to what emotion to show\u2014especially when our loved one has just died.<\/p>\n

The memory of our beloved grandmother passing away unexpectedly around the time of All Saints\u2019 Day is still clear on my mind. We were actually preparing for my brother\u2019s 16th birthday, when suddenly our \u2018mamang\u2019 (that\u2019s how we called her) complained that she could hardly breathe. As we reached the nearest hospital, her heart also stopped beating.<\/p>\n

In an instant, the idea of a perfect party has turned into random thoughts on how we would arrange mamang\u2019s burial. The birthday party was cancelled and on the eve of All Saints\u2019 Day, we cried as we ate the supposed birthday cake, mourned as we counted the strands of spaghetti in our plate and watched as the ice cream melted before our very eyes\u2014instead of a birthday song, we chanted a prayer for our dear grandmother.<\/p>\n

Mamang is known to be a very strong person. She is the foundation of our family. And though she has passed away, she continued to help us stay strong amid a family tragedy.<\/p>\n

On the last few days of her burial, my auntie (Mamang\u2019s daughter) said that she saw mamang smiling at her. She was said to be \u2018at peace,\u2019 wearing a beautiful smile. As her family, we were somewhat relieved hearing about this.<\/p>\n

Next year’s All Saints\u2019 Day was still a painful one for us. But unlike the first one, we tried our best to celebrate it a bit lighter and happier.<\/p>\n

We even consulted a priest as to the rules of celebrating a birthday around the time that our loved one also died. The priest simply smiled at us and said, \u201cAll Saints\u2019 Day is not just about mourning for the dead. It is also celebrating the life that the dead has had.\u201d<\/p>\n

True it is.<\/p>\n

So, from then on, we have found more reasons to celebrate All Saints\u2019 Day\u2014the wonderful life that my grandmother had and the promising life that my brother continues to live.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All Saints’ Day is not just like any other holiday for our family. Yes, we gather at one place, prepare …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-lifestyle","mauthors-katherine-marfal-teves","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}