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Colorful tombstones becoming All Souls' Day attraction in Cotabato

By Noel Punzalan

October 29, 2018, 6:58 pm

COTABATO CITY--“Splash them all with lovely colors because it is the thought that counts.”

Colorful tombstones are expected to be an attraction of sorts here as residents remember their dead on Nov. 2 (All Souls Day).

As early as this time, locals visiting the city’s public cemetery have brought with them big cans of paint in a variety of colors to add a “refreshing touch” on the tombstones of their departed ones.

“We deviated from the usual white colors we had for years on our departed loved ones’ gravestones because we want to remember them as alive even in spirit. Life is colorful so they say,” local trader Nelson Yu, 54, said in an interview with the Philippine News Agency at the public cemetery Monday.

Early on in their marriage, Yu and his wife Lani lost two kids due to congenital health conditions. The couple has two other healthy sons, Andrew, 30, and Sonni, 25.

The businessman had the tombstones, which were standing side-by-side, painted with light blue and the other with a blend of light green. Other grave markers nearby have assortment of colors ranging from gray, yellow, black, pink, and white.

“Amid all the beautiful tombstone colors, the serenity and essence of the Nov. 2 observance should remain,” Yu said, adding that families of the departed shoud focus on prayers, candle lighting, and flower offering for the dead.

Yu said the changes in colors from the customary white tombstones only started several years ago.

“We simply copied what they did because we see nothing wrong with it,” he said.

Even graveyard keepers have not stopped them, Yu said, from painting the tomb markers with lovely colors.

“There are even painters-for-hire who charges low fees to color your departed ones’ headstones,” he said.

Loreto Bacod, one of the “painters” offering his services at the cemetery, said business is booming nowadays.

“Kada Araw ng Patay lang po (We do it only every All Souls Day),” Bacod said.

Yu said they plan to change the color of their dead’s tombstones every year.

"Just paint the favorite color or pigments associated with your departed ones to remember them by and enjoy that feeling that they are still alive,” he said with a smile. (PNA) 

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