The Here and There of a Dead's Wake

Last night, we went to the wake of a colleague’s father who died of cancer. It was at St. Peter Memorial Chapels along Quezon Avenue. The place was quite put out of place, I think. It was located along a very busy street. Next to the building was an adult entertainment house that goes by the name of a flying horse. When we get inside, it was like going inside a mall. Of course, a lot of people was there visiting other wakes but what confused me was outside at the front hall, there was this promotional campaign for the memorial chapel. It was like a party of some sort, loud music and all. Well, what better place to hold the promo but on the place itself. There was a flat lcd screen outside to tell you if you don’t know what chapel you will go.

Back in the province where I come from, there are no memorial chapels. The wake is being held in the residence of the departed. The coffin, for those who can’t afford buying an expensive one, is just carpentered out of plywood, painted to look presentable. Here, the cost of the coffin alone is equivalent to the over-all expenses for the entire wake including interment in the province.


The chapels have evolved. Packages now include a room complete with bathroom that nobody will use for add-on convenience. Only to discover it becomes a “bodega”. And recently, they have introduced new innovations like “eBurol” and “eLiving”. No need for relatives to go home especially if they live abroad. They just log in to the internet and watch the wake from the computer. While in the province, there’s no need for that, the house becomes fully packed of relatives from far places who will surely go home just for the wake. Sometimes, wakes are being extended to weeks for someone important has yet to arrive.

In the chapels, seldom we see someone cries. If someone cries, you will only see tears. So unlike in the province, that if you see someone cries, you hear them loud and clear.


The only one thing that I don’t notice in the chapel that is very, very usual in the province is gambling. In the province, if someone dies, gamblers are always present.
Well, the truth is we all have to die but not sooner. No matter where someone dies, no matter where someone’s wake is being held, all of us will only have one direction to go. Up there, Someone is waiting for us.