‘Recuerdos de patay’ Ambeth Ocampo Philippine Daily Inquirer
November 03, 2009
THERE IS A WONDERFUL SIGN ON THE MAIN entrance to the Manila North Cemetery (Cementerio del Norte) that reads, “Welcome po kayo dito.” This is a shining example of Filipino hospitality that everyone will refuse. I saw this from the corner of my eye, last month because I was anticipating the mouth-watering display of freshly roasted lechon displayed on the roadside across the cemetery. When I first saw the welcome sign to the cemetery, I burst out laughing and gave the polite Filipino reply to the person who posted the greeting, “Mauna po kayo. (You go first!)”
Cementerio del Norte is one of the most fascinating historical spots in Manila, but it is not on the route recommended by the Department of Tourism. It is here that many actors in Philippine history lie: Manuel Roxas, Francis Burton Harrison, Gregoria de Jesus Nakpil (widow of Andres Bonifacio, Lakambini of the Katipunan), Pancho Villa (boxer), Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo (19th century painter and contemporary of Rizal and Juan Luna), Fernando Poe Sr. and Jr. (actors), Amado V. Hernandez and Honorata “Atang” de la Rama (husband and wife, both National Artists), and many more. There is a mausoleum dedicated to the veterans of the Philippine Revolution, a plot of land dedicated to firemen, another for Jews, and yet another for the first American teachers who arrived at the turn of the 20th century aboard the USS Thomas and are thus known collectively as the “Thomasites.”
Strolling in a cemetery may not fit everyone’s idea of recreation or education, but the Cementerio del Norte is well worth the effort. I have to visit their administrative office one day to get a listing of its famous occupants and verify the rumor that if you look at the plan of the cemetery, its outline forms a skeleton.
Since historians work with and in the past, they often encounter the dead. I have spent a lot of time reading about the dead and dying. I have even marveled at the pre-war magazine Renacimiento Filipino (Philippine Renaissance or Re-birth) whose reporters were the earliest ambulance chasers. Instead of covering the parties of “Manila’s 400” some of them specialized in wakes and burials. If they arrived on time, they could even take pictures of the famous before and after death. If their camera was quick, they could take a series of photographs as the person expired or breathed their last. Renacimiento Filipino is a magazine that draws the reader in with a mix of curiosity, fear, and revulsion. I often recommend Renacimiento Filipino to students seeking suggestions for term paper topics, but there are no takers.
During the last few auctions organized by the Bayanihan Collectors Club, I have acquired postcards and photographs of wakes, burials, and hearses from the late 19th to the mid 20th centuries. One of my recent finds were “before and after” pictures of an unidentified politician in a sickbed and last seen alive posing for a souvenir photograph with a smiling Sergio Osmeña. There is a succession of pictures of his corpse alone on the hospital bed, inside a coffin and lying in state.
Juan Luna was photographed on a bier in Hong Kong shortly before he was cremated in 1899. Unlike Luna, who wore a dark suit in death, Emilio Jacinto was garbed in his military uniform complete with his rifle. Unlike Luna whose bier was ornamented with wreaths, Jacinto’s background had a file of mourners, mostly female and the one with the most sorrowful look was carrying Jacinto’s child in her womb.
Then there is Paciano Rizal, eldest brother of the National Hero and general of the Revolution, who refused to be photographed in life. When he was in a coffin, unable to resist, photographs were taken of the wilted hero who by then resembled Nosferatu the Vampire.
These morbid photographs are known as recuerdos de patay (souvenirs of death).
Recuerdos de patay did not go out of style after the 19th century when people would have their relatives, especially children, painted for posterity. The National Museum has a fine portrait of a “sleeping” child by Simon Flores that is one of the best of this genre.
Early in the 20th century, painters were commissioned to paint portraits of people as they lay dead. The real challenge to the painter’s skill and artistry in re-presentation was how to change the pallid complexion of a corpse and make it life-like. Then the painter had to “open” the eyes of the deceased and make the portrait appear as if it were painted from life.
There is something about death that unsettles the living, but it is one of the inevitable facts of life. We will all die some day, we just don’t know when so it is best to be prepared.
A photograph in the papers the other day documented a pink coffin set up in a Makati cemetery where people were taking souvenir snapshots with their cell phones to overcome the fear of death. An enterprising undertaker on Quezon Boulevard does funeral arrangements online. But the ultimate in cash-and-carry shopping can be found in the US wholesaler Costco where coffins can be ordered near the baggage counters.
Benjamin Franklin was right when he said that the only sure things in life are death and taxes.
