CHAPTER XII
All Saints
The one thing perhaps that indisputably distinguishes man from thebrute creation is the attention which he pays to those who have passedaway and, wonder of wonders! this characteristic seems to be moredeeply rooted in proportion to the lack of civilization. Historiansrelate that the ancient inhabitants of the Philippines venerated anddeified their ancestors; but now the contrary is true, and the deadhave to entrust themselves to the living. It is also related thatthe people of New Guinea preserve the bones of their dead in chestsand maintain communication with them. The greater part of the peoplesof Asia, Africa, and America offer them the finest products of theirkitchens or dishes of what was their favorite food when alive, andgive banquets at which they believe them to be present. The Egyptiansraised up palaces and the Mussulmans built shrines, but the mastersin these things, those who have most clearly read the human heart,are the people of Dahomey. These negroes know that man is revengeful,so they consider that nothing will more content the dead than tosacrifice all his enemies upon his grave, and, as man is curious andmay not know how to entertain himself in the other life, each yearthey send him a newsletter under the skin of a beheaded slave.
We ourselves differ from all the rest. In spite of the inscriptions onthe tombs, hardly any one believes that the dead rest, and much less,that they rest in peace. The most optimistic fancies his forefathersstill roasting in purgatory and, if it turns out that he himself benot completely damned, he will yet be able to associate with them formany years. If any one would contradict let him visit the churches andcemeteries of the country on All Saints' day and he will be convinced.
Now that we are in San Diego let us visit its cemetery, which islocated in the midst of paddy-fields, there toward the west--not acity, merely a village of the dead, approached by a path dusty in dryweather and navigable on rainy days. A wooden gate and a fence halfof stone and half of bamboo stakes, appear to separate it from theabode of the living but not from the curate's goats and some of thepigs of the neighborhood, who come and go making explorations among thetombs and enlivening the solitude with their presence. In the center ofthis enclosure rises a large wooden cross set on a stone pedestal. Thestorms have doubled over the tin plate for the inscription INRI, andthe rains have effaced the letters. At the foot of the cross, as onthe real Golgotha, is a confused heap of skulls and bones which theindifferent grave-digger has thrown from the graves he digs, and therethey will probably await, not the resurrection of the dead, but thecoming of the animals to defile them. Round about may be noted signsof recent excavations; here the earth is sunken, there it forms a lowmound. There grow in all their luxuriance the _tarambulo_ to prickthe feet with its spiny berries and the _pandakaki_ to add its odorto that of the cemetery, as if the place did not have smells enoughalready. Yet the ground is sprinkled with a few little flowers which,like those skulls, are known only to their Creator; their petals weara pale smile and their fragrance is the fragrance of the tombs. Thegrass and creepers fill up the corners or climb over the walls andniches to cover and beautify the naked ugliness and in places evenpenetrate into the fissures made by the earthquakes, so as to hidefrom sight the revered hollowness of the sepulcher.
At the time we enter, the people have driven the animals away, with thesingle exception of some old hog, an animal that is hard to convince,who shows his small eyes and pulling back his head from a great gapin the fence, sticks up his snout and seems to say to a woman prayingnear, "Don't eat it all, leave something for me, won't you?"
Two men are digging a grave near one of the tottering walls. Oneof them, the grave-digger, works with indifference, throwing aboutbones as a gardener does stones and dry branches, while the other,more intent on his work, is perspiring, smoking, and spitting atevery moment.
"Listen," says the latter in Tagalog, "wouldn't it be better for usto dig in some other place? This is too recent."
"One grave is as recent as another."
"I can't stand it any longer! That bone you're just cut in two hasblood oozing from it--and those hairs?"
"But how sensitive you are!" was the other's reproach. "Just as ifyou were a town clerk! If, like myself, you had dug up a corpse oftwenty days, on a dark and rainy night--! My lantern went out--"
His companion shuddered.
"The coffin burst open, the corpse fell half-way out, it stunk--andsupposing you had to carry it--the rain wet us both--"
"Ugh! And why did you dig it up?"
The grave-digger looked at him in surprise. "Why? How do I know? Iwas ordered to do so."
"Who ordered you?"
The grave-digger stepped backward and looked his companion over fromhead to foot. "Man, you're like a Spaniard, for afterwards a Spaniardasked me the same questions, but in secret. So I'm going to answeryou as I answered the Spaniard: the fat curate ordered me to do so."
"Ah! And what did you do with the corpse afterwards?" furtherquestioned the sensitive one.
"The devil! If I didn't know you and was not sure that you are a _man_I would say that you were certainly a Spaniard of the Civil Guard,since you ask questions just as he did. Well, the fat curate orderedme to bury it in the Chinamen's cemetery, but the coffin was heavyand the Chinese cemetery far away--"
"No, no! I'm not going to dig any more!" the other interrupted inhorror as he threw away his spade and jumped out of the hole. "I've cuta skull in two and I'm afraid that it won't let me sleep tonight." Theold grave-digger laughed to see how the chicken-hearted fellow left,crossing himself.
The cemetery was filling up with men and women dressed inmourning. Some sought a grave for a time, disputing among themselvesthe while, and as if they were unable to agree, they scatteredabout, each kneeling where he thought best. Others, who had nichesfor their deceased relatives, lighted candles and fell to prayingdevoutly. Exaggerated or suppressed sighs and sobs were heard amidthe hum of prayers, _orapreo, orapreiss, requiem-aeternams_, thatarose from all sides.
A little old man with bright eyes entered bareheaded. Upon seeinghim many laughed, and some women knitted their eyebrows. The old mandid not seem to pay any attention to these demonstrations as he wenttoward a pile of skulls and knelt to look earnestly for somethingamong the bones. Then he carefully removed the skulls one by one, butapparently without finding what he sought, for he wrinkled his brow,nodded his head from side to side, looked all about him, and finallyrose and approached the grave-digger, who raised his head when theold man spoke to him.
"Do you know where there is a beautiful skull, white as the meat of acoconut, with a complete set of teeth, which I had there at the footof the cross under those leaves?"
The grave-digger shrugged his shoulders.
"Look!" added the old man, showing a silver coin, "I have only this,but I'll give it to you if you find the skull for me."
The gleam of the silver caused the grave-digger to consider, andstaring toward the heap of bones he said, "Isn't it there? No? ThenI don't know where it is."
"Don't you know? When those who owe me pay me, I'll give you more,"continued the old man. "It was the skull of my wife, so if you findit for me--"
"Isn't it there? Then I don't know! But if you wish, I can giveyou another."
"You're like the grave you're digging," apostrophized the old mannervously. "You don't know the value of what you lose. For whom isthat grave?"
"How should I know?" replied the other in bad humor.
"For a corpse!"
"Like the grave, like the grave!" repeated the old man with a drysmile. "You don't know what you throw away nor what you receive! Dig,dig on!" And he turned away in the direction of the gate.
Meanwhile, the grave-digger had completed his task, attested by thetwo mounds of fresh red earth at the sides of the grave. He took somebuyo from his salakot and began to chew it while he stared stupidlyat what was going on around him.