To commemorate the dead
As we are about to troop to cemeteries to commemorate our dead, it is worth recalling that those who went before us are worth remembering in two respects. The good side and the bad side. Hence, All Saints Day and All Souls Day.
There are the saints and there are those who are not yet saints thus have yet to enter heaven. All Souls Day is supposed to be for the latter.
Our dear departed have actually these two sides for they were not perfect, as we are not perfect. Their good side we have to hold as examples and try to improve on. Their good deeds and virtues are worth telling to our kids and their kids, so forth and so on. By such examples they might follow the path and become assets to society.
By their mistakes of our dear departed, actual lessons in life can be deduced to avoid committing the same thing or incurring the same shortcomings. It is coming to terms with such weaknesses or downside of a member of a family that we can proceed in life and avoid the same pitfalls. They are valuable therefore as these cannot be ignored by other family members because they are there “in our faces” we cannot run away from. We just have to accept and deal with theses and exert all the necessary efforts to become better in our own time.
So for better effect or results, the holidays should involve some contemplation and introspection. A mental recounting of the good deeds and the bad ones should be in order. It is by deeply analyzing these that we can harness for future generations the lessons they bear.
From these, behind any flower laid down on a grave, or some rice cake cooked in celebration, or some drinks partaken to spice up the occasion, lie the lessons we have to appreciate and apply.
Otherwise, the significance of the occasion would have been missed. And it would be a pity for us people who should have enough brains to think and look beyond the formalities or the superficial.**