Stories in Stones

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If only the statues could speak, I’m sure they have so much to tell us about the person whose grave they watched over. They are silent witnesses of the grief of those left behind.

Statues

The Silay Public Cemetery has so many interesting gravestones and statues. Some statues clearly convey grief that you don’t need to know the stories of the departed to empathize with the family.

They say no parent should bury their child for the pain is so unbearable. One of the tombs we saw in Silay that immediately caught our attention was placed on a pedestal at the center of a family burial ground. You don’t need to know how this boy died in order to feel the anguish of his family. Just look at how the statue is leaning on his tomb like a grieving mother and you’ll feel how his family must have felt.

This particular tomb belongs to the uncle of Solo Locsin. Julio Cesar died of tuberculosis in 1925 when he was only four years old. Solo told me that his grandfather was so stricken by grief that he had the boy mummified. Every All Saints Day, Julio’s sisters would change his clothes. However in the 1950s, the family moved his body to a permanent crypt when it was attacked by ants. Solo added that his grandfather also commissioned sculptor Guillermo Tolentino to create a metal bust of Julio Cesar which is still in the possession of the family.

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I don’t think they make statues like these anymore. Perhaps it is no longer practical to do so. It might already be a bygone era but I just hope the families will keep these statues for they are cultural treasures themselves.

Epitaphs

Tombstones not only tell us of the birth and death of the person but sometimes give us a glimpse of how he lived and how he died, through his epitaph.

Going around Silay’s Public Cemetery was quite a revelation. Tombs built during a certain period display some similarities. There was a period where only the names of the departed were written on the tombstones. There were tombs which were elevated with epitaphs still written in Spanish.

These are some of the epitaphs which I hope was translated correctly through an online Spanish Dictionary.

Ester! Desde el lugar donde te halles contempla a tus padres que lloran por tu muerte.

Ester! From where you find yourself contemplating your parents who weep for your death.

Ester’s tomb was at the lowest part of a family burial “condominium” already on it’s third level so she must have died a long time ago. There’s no family name on her tombstone but since she’s buried with her family, you don’t have to guess. There’s also no birth nor death dates so we don’t know how old she died. However, there were several tombstones without family names like Ester’s whose owners died in the 1920′s.

Traidoramente arrebatada de los brazos de su familia por la implacable parca, el 25 de Diciembre 1910. Ofrenda de su esposo e hijos.

Treacherously snatched from the arms of her family by the relentless reaper, on 25 December 1910. Offering from her husband and sons.

 

Volo a la Gloria con intense pesar de sus padres el 11 de Junio de 1910 a la muy tierna edad de dos año. Sus padres depositan sus mas acerbas lagrimas ante la tumba del hijo querido.

Flew with glory to the intense grief of his parents on June 11, 1910 at the very tender age of two. His parents put their bitter tears at the grave of their beloved child

The first tomb’s owner died on Christmas day which must have been doubly painful for the family. These two tombs belong to one family and they both died a century ago. Was it just coincidence or they both died of an epidemic?  We don’t know for sure but these epitaphs gave us a glimpse into their deaths and the grief of their families.

Most of today’s tombs are simply marked “Family Remembrance” or sometimes with a verse from the Bible. I think those we saw in Silay has more drama. They make you think of the story of the departed.