Hundreds of People Attended Our Grandfather's Compleaño (Introducing Filipino Traditional Music & Dance)

13 November 2024

We recently celebrated my father's death anniversary, which turned out to be a reunion with my immediate and extended family members. Two weeks later, our grandfather's death anniversary was celebrated as well. I was expecting a large number of relatives to attend, particularly those from the same town, but I didn't expect to see hundreds of people at the venue. It was indeed the last death anniversary celebration and grand family reunion.

In Filipino tradition and customs, families celebrate death anniversaries for their deceased loved ones for nine consecutive years. The 9th one is called compleaño. It's actually derived from a Spanish term that means birthday, so I have no idea why the last death anniversary in the Philippines is called that way. Or is it just happening in our province? Could it also be because of the Catholic belief, 'rebirth after death?' That makes sense.

My grandfather's last death anniversary celebration was on the 14th of October. It wasn't just a simple death anniversary where the family offered prayers for the deceased and food to the visitors. This compleaño was more like a grand family reunion, reuniting all the children of the deceased, including the grandchildren, children of grandchildren, and relatives from both sides (grandpa's and grandma's). So, just imagine that? It was a big celebration which entailed a lot of preparation, so everyone gave a hand. We all had tasks to do and financial contributions for the success of this event. Since it'd be the last celebration for Grandfather, we did our part and our best to make it memorable.

We hired some cooks to do the cooking, but our family did some tasks as well. Three pigs were slaughtered for this event; two pigs were cooked for main dishes, and the other one for lechon or a roasted pig cooked traditionally. My task with my other cousins was to make the salad, which is my favorite task to do when preparing for a celebration.

We hired a caterer to cater to the visitors and set up the venue. The event was held in a covered court. Everything was well-planned, from food, venue, and catering to the sound system. Then, we just sat back, relaxed, and enjoyed the event.

The event started at ten in the morning, but I went there at about two in the afternoon to avoid seeing a lot of people. I was expecting fewer people in the afternoon, but they still didn't leave, and even more people were coming.

The first table was for our whole family, the organizer of the event.

My niece Breiana, immediately ran to the center dance floor after hearing the music. She loves dancing, and she felt even more excited to see more kids at the venue. Some of her young cousins were there, too.

The highlight of this event isn't just the family reunion and food, but traditional dances. People attend this kind of event not just to eat but also to dance. We rented a sound system to play unlimited music for visitors. Oldies usually love dancing what we call kuratsa, cha-cha, and aminudo. If you need to get more familiar with these dances, then you can check out the video posted below! You may want to dance them if you stumbled upon Filipino Fiestas and other events someday :).

Our country is known for having a vibrant culture rich with traditions and festive celebrations, and traditional dances are part of it. Traditionally, those dances reflect the Filipino way of life. As time goes by, they become part of entertainment.

Selfie with my mom and bro-sis..

Sometimes, people incorporate modern dance steps into traditional steps, making the dance more humorous. That's how it becomes entertaining. So, those dances are the main highlight of every fiesta and other events. Some traditional music is now mixed with modern upbeat music, which is also used at disco parties.

We also have this called gala. Some people are usually invited to dance in the center dance floor with their selected partners in events like this. While they are dancing, a tray or a piece of cloth is laid on the floor where the audience or visitors can throw their gala to show appreciation to the dancers. This gala is in monetary form, either bills or coins. The audience would like the performance if more money is collected from the gala.

Grandma with her daughters..

It's part of the tradition and fiestas as well, and the money goes to the event organizer, which usually compensates for the expenses spent in organizing the event. At the beginning of our event, there were galas, but later in the afternoon, we stopped them, and everyone was free to dance on the dance floor until night.

You can see that green basket with money from the gala

The dance started from morning until night. We also played some modern music at night for young people to enjoy. There is a trending dance in our country called budots and people usually love dancing it during fiestas or disco parties. Visitors at our grandfather's compleaño enjoyed dancing all day and night with free food.

Our family heaved a sigh of relief when this event ended successfully. That was our grandfather's last death anniversary celebration.

My beautiful grandma..

But in the following years, we still have to commemorate him and pray for his soul. We had a post-celebration at the beach the day after this event, exclusive to immediate and extended family members only.

Thanks for your time.

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