All Saints' Day on 1 November is a national holiday in the Philippines and many people travel home to visit cemeteries where family members are buried. Taking advantage of the almost-unheard-of sparse traffic in Manila, we took a taxi to the Chinese Cemetery in Chinatown. As stated in my Philippines guidebook, As in life, so it is in death for Manila's wealthy Chinese citizens, who are buried with every modern convenience in the huge Chinese Cemetery. There are mausoleums with crystal chandeliers, air-con, hot and cold running water, kitchens, and flushing toilets. I read that one even included a swimming pool, but when our guide took us there it turned out to be a very small "symbolic pool," as he put it. It was definitely worth hiring a guide for this huge place, where some 30,000 people are buried. According to him, the families try to outdo one another in the elaborateness of their family mausoleum, some which surely cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to build and maintain. Considering there are over 1 million homeless people in Manila, many people's reaction to this excessive luxury for the dead might well be shock and dismay.
No comments:
Post a Comment