Remembered this fic 'cos it's Nov 1 and 2 here again in the Philippines so people are on holiday for All Saints and All Souls. My friend had texted me that crowds and traffic jams were huge en route to cemetery as early as Thursday. TV news shows videos of big crowds coming to cemeteries to spruce up their relatives' graves, and staying overnight at transport terminals (bus, ships) trying to catch a ride home.

I can relate to this one much more than I can with alchemy. I guess Mexico and my country got this tradition from Spain, since it had colonized both countries. Then the Americans took over here, which is why many Filipinos have a Spanish-sounding family name and an English-sounding first name, like I do.

families were preparing altars decorated with brightly-coloured paper, bunches of ... flowers

Yup, that's done here esp devoutly Catholic families. Mine isn't deeply religious.


water and salt to represent the Catholic baptism rite,

Seems to be practiced by older folks and those living in rural areas. My mom had always thought this was borrowed from the Chinese, but she wouldn't know for sure. Maybe it's a blend. After all, there seems to be Chinese immigrants all over the world.


items that reminded the families of those they were honouring. Treasured keepsakes, favourite food and drink, and photographs would adorn the main room of each house until the festival was over.

Not something my clan does but I wouldn't be surprised to see it done by other families esp older generations. Sometimes my Baptist aunt would oppose offering food to the dead. Then one time we had a ... supernatural event in my parents' house, which added to my growing acceptance of the notion that our dead relatives sometimes visit those of us who are living.

Mexico and the Philippines are sure similar in celebrating the Day of the Dead. that's what we do here in the Philippines every November. love this story. reminds me strongly of traditions. and its well written too.

Oops, forgot to include this in my earlier reply. Your author permissions must've been enabled shortly after you applied. They already were in place when I checked your account earlier this year. Yeah, that FAQs thread had grown convoluted and I'm partly to blame for that, heehee!

I'm a Filipino living in the Philippines actually. I believe our All Saints and All Souls Days (on Nov 1 and 2, respectively, every year) come from Catholic traditions of praying for souls in purgatory. Those who are more devout followers of Catholic rituals pray novenas for much of those holidays.

I really enjoyed this story. It's nice to see the mixing of the two cultures here. Great job.

Btw, nice to see you finally posting here. Earlir this year when I was cleaning up the old Administration forum, I saw some of your posts there and checked that your author permissions were enabled. I wondered why you haven't uploaded stories sooner, but that's entirely your prerogative.

Nice to read a fic with the Trio's friendship intact. I kinda expected them to see Ron's ghost but it's good that you didn't write it that way. I liked his death scene too, because it shows how much H & H care for him.

We have an "All Souls Day" tradition where we go clean up our dead relatives' graves, bring flowers, light candles, sometimes offer food for them, etc. It's not as joyous as how the Mexicans celebrate it (from what I gather from this story), but it's a big deal here as we get to reunite with relatives.

Great job describing this tradition.

I remember when you first posted this (on LJ, I believe), and I loved it then, and love it now. It is very much how I would want to see the survivors of the Trio act, should they lose one of their own.

Very warm, and a reminder that ghosts -- and memories -- need not be terrifying.

Fantastic little piece. Nice use of a cultural event for remembrance.

fascinating and lovely, i rather wish for a little more background on harry and hermione's relationship but besides that i enjoyed it, i liked the insight of the mexican day of the dead
five stars, definately

Heartbreaking and joyful at the same time. I hope writing this brought you whatever it is you need. *hugs you*

great, good job best memorial story. lets see more please. thankx

I think that this is the best story of remembering a death during the duel that I have ever read. Good Job.

Awwww...what a nice story! And so appropriate, too. I always liked the Mexican tradition of Dia de los Muertos, and thought it could do with being transplanted up to the US.

And I think Harry and Hermione would have mourned long and hard if Ron had bought it.