Bacolod parish marks Undas with "Parade Of Saints"

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — The San Sebastián Cathedral Parish in this city the other day staged the "Parade of Saints" to celebrate All Saints’ Day in an alternative way from the secular practice of "Halloween."

The Parade of Saints was participated by children from the various Basic Ecclesial Communities of the San Sebastian Cathedral, the press release said, adding that this was in celebration of the "memory of all Christians who have triumphed over the trials of this world and are now in heaven."

Halloween is celebrated with children wearing costumes as vampires, witches and other beings which are considered as evil or demonic, the church said, as it observed that in the recent years these "evil" creatures are no longer depicted as such but are now presented as heroes in movies.

The Catholic Church's Parade of Saints was aimed at inculcating in children the love for Jesus Christ, the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints as the real heroes who have overcome the evils of this world.

The parish said it was hoping that children, as they dressed up as saints, will imitate when they grow up the virtues of the saints becoming themselves the new witnesses of the faith in the present generation

Meanwhile, the City Police is now on alert status for the observance of the All Saints' and All Souls' Day on November 1 and 2, respectively.

Senior Superintendent Milko Lirazan, director of the Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office, said that 80 percent of the existing police force will be deployed on the field starting yesterday to maintain peace and order.

Police checkpoints will be put up around the province, while public assistance desks will be set up in cemeteries, ports, bus terminals and areas that there are places of convergence of people, Lirazan added. — Marchel P. Espina (FREEMAN)