Previous Story
Loves ones remembered on All Saints’ Day
|
Posted on Nov 01 2008
Hundreds of people turned out at Mt. Carmel Cemetery yesterday to remember loved ones on All Saints’ Day.
Flowers, mementos and candles sat on almost all of the gravesites. Tents were pitched to provide shade to people as they sat remembering their loves throughout the day.
All Saints’ Day is the one day each year loved ones can be remembered, said Alice Oliva.
“You think about it, we grew up this way,” she said. “It’s tradition. I don’t come here often, so this is a chance to remember them.”
Oliva, her husband, Ed, and friends Edith Ranoco and Al Arnaldo, arrived at the cemetery at 10am and planned to stay all day, until the end of the Mass.
The group sat under a tent in front of the Olivas’ son’s grave. Jesse Tito Muna Bascon was stillborn on Sept. 8, 1986.
Alice said she also planned to visit her parents’ and grandparents’ gravesites, all within the cemetery.
“Our religion teaches us to respect each other and the ones who have passed on,” she said.
Vicky Butris was at the cemetery to pay respects to her parents, husband, nephew and niece. She was also remembering her brother, Juan Celis Cabrera, who passed in September.
“We love our beloved ones and this is only once a year,” she said. “We contribute our time and pay respects to them.”
During the several hours Butris was at the cemetery, she said she would pray off and on for her family members.
For one man, the day would have new meaning. The man, who declined to be identified, was digging a grave for his seven-month old son who passed away yesterday morning.
Bishop Tomas Camacho led the Mass.
