Philippines' citizens went to visit their deceased parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, and other loved ones during the Undas 2023.
Filipinos call the All Saints' Day "Undas," which came from the Spanish verb honrar (honras in the second-person singular form).
People light candles and pray for their relatives at a cemetery during the annual observance of All Saint's Day in Manila on November 1, 2019. - Millions of Filipinos flocked to cemeteries to visit and pray at the graves of their loved ones to mark the holiday.
Honras evolved over the years into the more colloquial word "ondas," which is now called Undas.
The Undas celebration is surrounded by many traditions that Filipinos extremely value. However, some Philippine residents don't seem to have that kind of respect.
Philippines Undas 2023: Cemetery Food Trip Trend Goes Viral
In Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok, the Undas food trip trend-which other Filipinos call "sementeryo food trip" or "Undas mukbang"-is going viral.
Many netizens even find this kind of content very entertaining; some of them even rate the meals they see on top of tombs. This challenge involves visiting cemeteries during the time when visitors are already gone.
Based on the videos posted by some online influencers, as well as wannabe content creators, they will eat the food laid out by Filipinos in the cemeteries.
They will take advantage of this Undas tradition by eating the food and drinking the beverages that were supposed to be for families' deceased loved ones.
In comment sections of Undas food trip videos, many Filipinos found the trend very funny. Some of them said that it would be a waste if those food were not eaten by living people.
Meanwhile, others were disappointed by this act, saying that they don't have respect for the Undas tradition, as well as the dead; some described these Filipinos as "salot" (pests).
Below are some of the Undas mukbang videos and cemetery food trip content posted on Facebook.
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Why Filipinos Offer Food To Dead People on Undas
A family keeps vigil at the grave of a loved one at a mass graveyard for victims of typhoon Haiyan during All-Saints' Day in Tacloban City, Leyte province, central Philippines on November 1, 2015. Millions of people in the Philippines made their annual pilgrimages to family gravesites on November 1.
Via The National, Filipino food author Michelle Melo, the lady behind the popular blog "Dekaphobe," explained why Filipinos serve food to the dead.
She said that families make efforts to prepare food to bring to their dead loved ones. Most of the time, they will cook meals that their deceased family members used to enjoy when they were alive.
"It is a way of honoring the dead and a gesture to show that they are not forgotten," said Melo.
Based on the videos above, most Filipinos who are doing the Undas mukbang trend are teenagers or in their early 20s. This is no longer surprising since many young Philippine citizens are no longer bound by traditions.
However, it is still important to respect the older traditions, which have been followed by many Filipinos for hundreds of years. After all, younger Filipinos, especially those considered as "snowflakes," wouldn't like it if their "new" beliefs were disrespected by others.
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