Trick or Treat...

That's the husband...he was a zombie on their office holloween party. We were too desperate on choosing what character would he be and he finally decided to be a zombie.

With my little make-up skill, voila! I created a monster...rawr! I'm glad you guys love it! Till next holloween!

Holloween...Cauayanon Style: "Treat-and-more-Treats!"

"Kalag-Kalag" is how we Ilonggos call holloween. From the word "Kalag" which is the direct translation of soul or spirit.

As for the repeatition of the word, my guess is that our ancestors might have playfully repeated the word, to sugarcoat the "scare" that it implies and to make it sound more festive . (Somebody please enlighten me on this?)

In the Philippines we celebrate holloween every 1st of November otherwise known as the "All Soul's Day".(ohhhh, I smell wonderful chidlhood memories again)

When I was a kid, every "kalag-Kalag" my family used to visit my mother's hometown in Cauayan, Negros Occidental to pay a visit to my grandmother Consing's tomb and other relatives who passed-away.

A usual "November 1st" goes like this: In the morning, my titos (uncles) would go to the cementery to tidy-up the my grandmother's tomb for the visitors while my titas and my mother are at the kitchen making all these classic sticky rice menus that I would never trade for any gourmet meals in the world. It is a Filipino belief that these sticky rice delicacies will keep the family more closer for every year that comes.

In the afternoon, the neighborhood becomes quieter as everyone heads to the cementery. To light candles, say prayers and offer flowers to dead loved-ones and relatives and be back at home before dawn.

Until a few years back when I blogged about this on Friendster, I realized Cauayanons do have their own version of "trick or treat". However, it was more of a "Treat and more Treats!". My cousins, me with my parents, titas or older cousins would go to a relative's home and yell outside their doors "mangalag-kalag kami!" (we want to celebrate holloween).  Of course, being hospitable as we are, the host gladly let us in for the treats. However, those are not m&m's, hershey's, skittles nor any candy, nope!...it was waaayyy better!

We get warm milk, Taho (ginger tea),  suman, valenciana, ibos, bihon - except for the bihon, these are sticky rice cooked in different ways. (Ask Mr. Google, he knows a lot about this). Then laughters, stories -- ghost stories then fills the table until its time for you to visit another home. You could go to as much homes as you want, as long as you still have room to fill your stomach coz you have to eat once you went in someone's house. Indeed that's lotsa treats!

I hope that this is still being practiced today as this is one rare practice among Filipinos. Happy Holloween everyone! 

Renewed.

I am so into fall right now. 

I have been all over Vancouver and taking pictures everywhere as the city transforms into a beautiful red-yellow-orange-gold pallet. The greens are disappearing bit by bit.

Talking about green, I got my renewed passport last Tuesday. I am officially and finally sparing myself from the embarrassment of having a (still) handwritten and no chip passport (yey!). No more funny smiles and stares every time I present my country's "emblem".

Funny how this goes with the season....and so the green one shall go as it should. -- haha!

I'm just glad that before I let it go, it did served its one sole purpose why I dragged my a$$ off to DFA Manila about almost 5 years ago albeit it took a while to have it stamped with "that visa". It was all worth the detours during that dormant time of 4 years and 7 months. 

dirty pages of my old passport

 Well, to you my old green pal, this is not goodbye,  I just have these new blank pages to be stamped on.

indeed green is out, red is in.