Funeral practices and burial customs in the Philippines

[1] This belief, which stemmed from indigenous ancestral veneration and was strengthened by strong family and community relations within tribes, prompted the Filipinos to create burial customs to honor the dead through prayers and rituals.

[2] The most common forms of traditional burials are supine pits, earthenware jars, and log coffins, and have been a topic of interest among Philippine archaeologists since the early 20th century.

[6][8][better source needed] On the funeral day, the coffin is generally loaded into a hearse or borne by family members, relatives, or friends in procession towards the church and later the cemetery.

The custom is based on the pre-colonial folk belief that the soul of the departed enters the spirit world on the ninth day following death.

[5][8] Hispanofilipinos, Jews, and Filipino Muslims do not practice wakes like the Christians do; their religious customs mandate burial of the dead 24 hours after the time of death.

Muslims do not partake in the pasiyam or pagsisiyam nor hold a death anniversary service, but often wear black clothing for the entirety of the forty-day mourning period.

People gather in graveyards to clean and decorate the family grave as early as All Hallow's Eve to offer the dead prayers, candles, flowers and sometimes food.

More often than not, mourners keep vigil overnight at graves, eating and making merry to pass the time and keep the dead company,[6] reflecting the indigenous and modern traditions of venerating ancestors.

[5][8] Due in part to external influences from the Philippines' colonial periods, the islands' death-centric holidays and associated traditions are similar to those of Spain, the United States of America, and Mexico.

The Apayaos-also known as the Isnegs or Isnags-of the Cordillera Administrative Region, wrap the deceased person in a mat (ikamen), and is then carried on the shoulders of the immediate male family members.

The body is then placed in a lungón (coffin), positioned so the head faces east, symbolizing the rising sun and hope, rather than west, which is considered inauspicious.

[20] After the burial, family members undergo a ritual called diram-os, washing their hands and feet with water boiled with leaves of guava, guayabano, or dangla to ward off evil spirits that might have followed them from the cemetery.

[22] The day after the funeral, a cleansing ritual called gulgol is performed to remove grief, bad luck, and the lingering spirit of the deceased.

They burn arútang (rice stalks) and offer gawéd (betel pepper leaves) and pinádis (rolled tobacco) under the guidance of a prayer leader.

A wood log is then lit in the front of the house and is burned during the entire wake, and is completed by all the family members washing their hair with a special shampoo.

[25][26] The more common burial custom of the Kankanaey people in Sagada, Mountain Province is for coffins to be tucked into crevices or stacked on top of each other inside limestone caves.

Plates and saucers could be placed under the head like a pillow, or over the face and chest, in some areas some corpses could be adorned with masks or mouthpieces made of gold.

[30] In the case of the death of a datu, his wives, or children: the community was placed under a strict mourning requirement called the pumaraw[30] where no one was to wear colored clothes, climb coconut trees, or fish in certain streams; and spears were to be carried point down and side arms blade up.

[30] Funeral traditions of the Cebuano people also include nine-day recitation of the rosary, litanies, novenas, and Latin prayers after the burial, additionally chanting the Pahulayng Dayon or "Eternal Rest" (also known as "Gozos for the Dead").

Cebuanos also have superstitious beliefs related to funerals that include: placing funeral alms or limos into a container, refraining from sweeping the floor of the deceased's home (wastes are collected by hand instead of being swept by brooms; other Filipinos also have this superstition[6]), no bathing and no combing of hair on the part of relatives (other Filipinos too believe in this),[6] placing worn mourning pins into the coffin during interment, preventing tears from dropping onto the glass plate of the casket (in order for the departed soul to travel in peace), placing a chick on top of the coffin of an individual who died due to a transgression (to hasten justice for the dead victim), wearing black or white clothes during the interment (except for a child who is dressed with a red-colored garment, as a deterrent from seeing the ghost of the dead relative[7][32]), urging relatives to pass through under the casket before it is loaded onto the funeral hearse (to assist the surviving relatives in moving on with their life), marching the dead towards the church and the cemetery (known as the hatod, or "carrying the departed to his destination" on foot), consuming food only at the cemetery after the interment, and passing through smoke while still within the cemetery or by the gates of the cemetery (to untangle the spirits of the dead from the bodies of the living).

A similar palina is practiced called tobas or kalipayan[33][better source needed] which is composed of water and some leaves of different plants, components of whose are known only to those who know how to create one.

[34] So their burial custom starts with laying the corpse on the boat-shaped coffin, which will be celebrated from a week to five months (and even a year for respected people like datu).

For Ata-Manobos occupying the forest areas of Davao, have the unique superstition in teaching Antuk [34](riddles) other than for wake ceremony will bring misfortune.

So in Ata-manobos' joyful wake custom, close people of the deceased gather and sit around the corpse (in laid down position) and chat, tell stories, sing, dance, play instruments and more to elevate the atmosphere of grief.

After finishing this ceremony within a day, Imam finally prays at the four corners of the buried site, then place Sundok (oblong stone that is believed to contain the spirit) near the head of the dead).

[40] With the then-new educational system, young Filipinos were taught different American cultural devices such as their songs, values and ideals, and their subsequent assimilation of many of their traditions.

Drawing heavily from the Catholic faith, many Filipinos do not practice cremation as they believe that the body must remain intact in order to fulfill and prepare for the resurrection of the dead.

Traditional Chinese practices involve the burning of paper versions of material goods such as houses, cars, helicopters, yachts, and money, so that the deceased will be able to enjoy such in the afterlife.

[48] In elite burials, it can also be denoted that the amount of prestige goods and their placement were markers that not only suggested social classification, but an undeniable transoceanic trade partnership between the Filipino and Chinese people.

Stones, shells, gold, silk, bones (human and animal), bracelets and beads are a few examples of ornaments that held great prestige in the Philippines.