Ready umbrellas for All Souls’ Day, Cebuanos told

After drizzles and overcast skies in Cebu yesterday, expect some rain when visiting cemeteries today for All Souls’ Day.

“People are advised to bring umbrellas. The rain may last  throughout the day,” Al Alcazar of Pag-asa Mactan said.

Cebu will experience scattered rainfall due to an Intertropical Convergence Zone in the Visayas and Mindanao, according to the  Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Service Administration (Pag-asa).

The  ITCZ and a low-pressure area in Mindanao may  subside  by tomorrow.

The light rain yesterday didn’t stop families from flocking to  cemeteries yesterday, All Saints’ Day, to light candles, offer  flowers, pray  and hold picnics near  tombs of their departed loved ones.

Masses were offered every hour at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral yesterday and the Sto. Rosario Church from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m.

Msgr. Achilles Dakay, media liaison officer,  said the day  was dedicated for praying for souls of the dead who were beatified, canonized and whose souls are already in heaven.

“It’s a day to thank God and celebrate. Instead of spending it in  the cemetery, the celebration should be in  church,” Dakay said.

Traditionally, however, crowds peak at cemeteries on Nov. 1  rather than Nov. 2.

Dakay said that today, which is All Souls’ Day, should be commemorated in the cemetery. He said it is the day to pray for  souls in purgatory to help “cleanse imperfections of the soul” before they  can enter  heaven.

He said lighting a candle is  a representation of  “living faith.”  The   candle  light represents one’s  faith while the heat represents a person’s good works.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Central Visayas reminded the public to dispose of trash properly and said cemeteries should have garbage bins to encourage waste segregation. /Candeze R. Mongaya, Reporter