All Souls’ Day

In Bangladesh and in the Philippines, Christians pay homage to their loved ones and ancestors. But in an area of the Philippines devastated by Typhoon Haiyan, All Souls’ Day takes on added meaning

Pictures by Stephan Uttom in Dhaka and Vincent Go in Tacloban City

Set up in the 17th century, Wari Christian Cemetery in Dhaka is Bangladesh’s oldest burial ground used by both local Catholics and Protestants. Every year on All Souls’ Day, Christians, a minority community in the Muslim-majority nation, pay homage to their deceased relatives in their own traditional ways.

People clean up the area around tombs at the 17th century Wari Christian Cemetery in Dhaka ahead of All Souls’ Day (Photo by Stephan Uttom)

Children light candles at the Wari cemetery in Dhaka (Photo by Stephan Uttom)

Christians attend a special ecumenical Holy Mass in the Wari cemetery ahead of All Souls’ Day in Dhaka (Photo by Stephan Uttom)

Every year, millions of Filipino Catholics flock to cemeteries to observe All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day. The annual tradition that combines Catholic religious rites with the country’s penchant for festivity is popularly called ‘Undas’, or Day of the Dead, a major family affair in the Philippines. In honor of All Saints’ and All Souls’ Day on November 1 and 2, tombs are cleaned and repainted, candles are lit and flowers are offered.

Renaldo Romagos cleans the grave of his wife Nerisa and son Ryan Rex who were killed when Typhoon Haiyan made landfall at Palo, Leyte province, in November of last year. At least 300 people, including Renaldo’s family, were buried in a mass grave in front of the San Joaquin Parish church. Thousands were killed when Typhoon Haiyan hit the area on November 8, 2013 (Photo by Vincent Go)

A shrine has been set up to mark the grave of Renaldo Romagos’ wife Nerisa and son Ryan Rex (Photo by Vincent Go)

Families camped overnight, pitched up tents and brought in food for a day-long All Saints’ Day picnic by the graves and tombs of their dead. In areas devastated by Typhoon Haiyan in November last year, remembering those who died has become more poignant. An estimated 10,000 people lost their lives in the tragedy while some 2,000 others remain missing.

Danica Bonife, 22, and her daughter, Daniella, 3, visit the mass grave inside the San Joaquin Parish church compound in Palo town where some 300 bodies of Typhoon Haiyan victims were buried. Bonife lost her father, grandparents, and several cousins when Typhoon Haiyan hit the province of Leyte on November 8, 2013 (Photo by Vincent Go)

Families of missing Typhoon Haiyan victims make an offering of flowers and candles on the beach at Talisay village in Tacloban City as they remember their loved ones (Photo by Vincent Go)

Photographs by Stephan Uttom in Dhaka and Vincent Go in Tacloban City. Originally published at www.ucanews.com.