Halloween.

We came as a Pirate in our group's last Halloween Party. The shirt was a sturdy, long-sleeved cotton branded Papillon and the pair of pants was a striped, brown semi-loose. Then, we found a package of pirate headress, eye patch and an earing at the Metro in the BGC area.

Whoa.

Pirate of the Carribean.

In the Business District of Makati, there was a Zombie Fun Run.

In Canada at same time of the year, kids and adults would have donned their Halloween best costume and went door to door for the traditional TRICK OR TREAT.

Halloween is a big street or neighbourhood party in North America. In malls and groceries, candies are packed in bundles and people grab them to give out as treats. Day after Oct. 30th, these same bags sell for much, much less.

Manila has just picked up on this Irish North American tradition. And hopefully there'd be no criminal activities such as spiking candies with blades or bad elements making the bizarre and weird for real.

Two days after Halloween is the traditional Philippine remembrance of the dead. All Saints Day and All Souls Day are celebrated nationally by offering flowers and candles at graveyards of dead relatives.

Nowadays, this unique Philippine tradition of honouring the departed ones has calmed down from the heydays of "karaoke singing," drinking and partying at the graveyard to a more sombre tone of prayers and family reunions.

While upscale families opt to buy and live in condominium buildings, only those with less resources choose to inter their departed ones in the so-called "apartment-style" gravesites, pictured below.

Apartment-style graveyard are the cheaper alternatives to individual and gated graves.