Let's talk about hair.

It's been a long time coming and this is the perfect time to talk about it. While everyone else is celebrating Holy Thursday and skipping meat as part of their penitence, from my end, I think I had been doing mine ever since I graduated college.

During the Lenten Season, they say that you have to give up something that you really love. It just so happen that for most people, they love their food. I'm not Catholic so the practice shouldn't bother me. But for the sake of this article, let me tell you why losing my hair becomes my penitence and why the Lenten Season never stopped for me.

This is the usual conversation.


Office Colleague 1: Hey, where are you going?
Me: Out. Just buying lunch.
Office Colleague 2: Let us go with you.

Outside.

OC1: It's so hot. Why is it so freaking hot?
OC2: That's actually not my problem. My problem is that something hurts my eye.
OC1: Oh. I see what you mean.
OC2: (Looking at me.)Would you mind covering your head. The sun's reflection is killing me.

Boohoooo!!!! Funny!!!

I'm not sure if you get what they mean but everytime we are out and the sun is blistering hot, they blame my head for creating so much eye sore. It use to annoy me a lot and God forgive me, I pray for the day that everyone else start losing their manes so that they would know how ashamed they make me feel.

I have genes to blame for this tragedy. Well, I use to think of it as a tragedy but not anymore. Looking at my pictures in college with my voluminous hair and taking picture with me on a wig (well-sort-of), I look like an idiot. It's actually better that I totally get rid of my hair.

The usual banter about my being bald (more of thin hair) is not causing me distress anymore. Deep down inside, everytime they call me names for my apparent lack of hair, I shout "Is that the best you got?"

And deep down, I'm also praying that God would do justice and I pray hard that one day, those who bully me will get what they deserve. I don't want them going bald, that would be too funny. I just wish their teeth get all knocked off. How's that for a tragedy?

(Or maybe I'll knocked their teeth for them, just for the fun of it. Hahaha)

Death is a common theme among civilizations. The great civilizations like that of the Mayans and Egyptians had acknowledge death as a part of life - a temporary stop where everyone had to pass by in order to move forward to a future more fulfilling if not cursed.

Having said that, the Philippines is perhaps one of the world's most exotic places not only in location but customs, traditions and beliefs. It has some of the most unique and peculiar burial places and practices and the most colorful of history as well.

Here are four must visit cemeteries in the Philippines.

1. The Hanging Coffins of Sagada
Sagada, Mountain Province




There is no proper name given to caves and cliffs where these coffins are hung. But technically, I think it is fair to say that these collection of hanging coffins located at numerous spots all over Sagada can be considered as cemeteries.

What is magnificent about this burial practice is the way the coffins and its contents are preserved. At present, most people who were buried (or hung) had been preserved so well that if one is to open the coffins, the mummies inside are still intact.

Noteworthy: The townsfolk have a paganistic belief that those who died naturally and those who died from sickness or childbirth should be separated so as not to spread diseases or curses.


2. The Sunken Cemetery
Camiguin Island



Of course the Sunken Cemetery didn't start out as that. It was a regular cemetery so many years ago but due to several eruptions of Mt. Vulcan Daan, the cemetery was forcefully driven underwater.

Today, during high tide, only the big cross marker can be seen since the rest of the cemetery is totally submerged. There are days however, when the tide is really low, that one can see the eerie layout of this burial ground.

Photo Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/49064485@N00/487883845


3. Familia Luzuriaga Cemetery
Bacolod City, Negros Oriental


There are no special or weird practices involved with this cemetery. What makes this cemetery remarkable is its location.

As the Guiness Book of World Record had put it, this cemetery is "the only cemetery in the world at the intersection of two highways."And that pretty much summarizes everything.

This cemetery belongs exclusively to Ruiz de Luzuriaga family, a prominent clan in Negros Occidental, whose great great grandfather, Don Eusebio Ruiz de Luzuriaga, settled in Bacolod City in 1840 after self-exiling himself from Spain.

Photo Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sunshinebunny/4041249617/


4. Death March Marker
Corrigidor, Bataan



On April 9, 1942, Bataan fell. About 75,000 American and Filipino soldiers surrendered to the Japanese and these POW (prisoners of war) were forced to walk (more than 100-km) from Mariveles (located at the southern tip of Bataan Peninsula) to Camp O'Donnell.

Out of 75,000, only about 54,000 reached the destination due to inhumane physical abuse and murder.

The atrocities of the Japanese and this event was later called the Bataan Death March. At present, the path that the soldiers took is marked by white markers. The estimated number of fallen soldiers - 11,000 scattered all over the path they took.

Photo source: http://visitpinas.com/the-unknown-clark-cemetery-and-death-march-marker/