30/10/2025
DID OUR ANCESTORS CELEBRATE HALLOWEEN
Every year, as Halloween arrives with its costumes, scary makeup, and trick-or-treats, one can’t help but ask did our ancestors in the Cordillera ever celebrate something like this?
The truth is: No, early Igorots did not celebrate Halloween.
But that doesn’t mean they didn’t have their own meaningful ways of honoring the dead. Long before colonization, the Igorots already had spiritual traditions deeply rooted in respect, remembrance, and gratitude for their ancestors.
Even before the arrival of the Spaniards, Igorot communities practiced ancestor veneration - a belief that the spirits of the departed (anitos or ap-apo) continued to guide and protect the living.
Rituals were held to honor these spirits. Families offered food, prayers, or animal sacrifices, not out of fear, but out of love and respect, to maintain harmony between the living and the unseen world.
For our ancestors, death was not something to be feared; it was part of the natural cycle of life and the relationship with one’s ancestors remained alive in spirit.
When the Spaniards came, they introduced Catholicism, along with All Saints’ Day (November 1) and All Souls’ Day (November 2) known today as Undas or Araw ng mga Patay.
Later, during the American occupation, communities were exposed to Western-style Halloween (October 31) originally rooted in the ancient Celtic festival Samhain, where people wore costumes to ward off spirits. Over time, it evolved into today’s fun but commercial holiday filled with horror themes, parties, and costumes.
These foreign observances gradually blended into Filipino culture but they were never part of the traditional Igorot belief system.
It’s important to understand that Halloween is not an Igorot practice.
While Halloween focuses on ghosts, horror, and superstition, the Igorot way of remembering the dead is sacred and family-centered, rooted in peace and thanksgiving.
Our indigenous rituals were about connection, not fear about showing respect, not summoning spirits or playing with symbols of death. Mixing the two can easily distort the spiritual essence of what our ancestors stood for.
It’s also true that not all Igorots today observe All Saints’ Day or All Souls’ Day even if they are Christians.
Some, especially those who study the Bible closely, believe that these Catholic observances are not Biblical and therefore choose not to participate.
This conviction deserves understanding and respect, just as ancestral traditions do. It also opens an important space for learning to ask, reflect, and discern for ourselves what aligns with our faith and what is simply tradition passed down through culture.
In the end, whether one lights a candle, holds a ritual, or quietly remembers their loved ones in prayer, what matters is the sincerity of remembrance.
