Where all roads lead

A week before cemeteries, like this one in Argao, would be crammed. Graves would then have been cleaned and repainted. The living would stream with candle and flower offerings to the departed.

For a large Catholic country like the Philippines, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day for that matter, is one of the most celebrated occasions of the year. Aside from the usual trip to the cemeteries to offer prayers and all, it is also a time to meet and catch up with relatives and friends who have come for the occasion.

[Note: The photos above show what remains now of the colonial cemetery in Argao built in the 1900s. In the cemetery complex is a small lake. Behind the cemetery is a beach, the level of the water on the artificial lake varies throughout the day. When I visited the place the capilla was under repairs.]

Simbahan: Cebu heritage churches in watercolor

St. Catherine of Alexandria in watercolor, originally uploaded by GIBBster.

Cebu churches were once again the highlight in a painting exhibit by known Carcaranon painter Tony Alcoseba. The exhibit dubbed “Simbahan: Cebu heritage churches in watercolor” was one of the big events in conjunction with the celebration of the commemoration of the founding of the Parian district of Cebu City.

The Carcar Heritage Conservation Society and the newly-formed Taytayan heritage conservation group spearheaded the exhibit at the Cathedral Museum of Cebu last October 11 and runs until October 30, 2008.

Art enthusiasts and heritage conservation advocates alike were joined by no less than Ace Durano, the Secretary of the Department of Tourism of the Philippines and the Archbishop of Cebu, Ricardo J. Cardinal Vidal. Both ended up buying the church paintings of Sto. Tomas de Villanueva church of Danao City and the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral respectively.

Each painting costs Php65,000 but part of the proceeds go to support heritage conservation.