For a while, I have carefully observed the funeral

For a while, I have carefully observed the funeral and funeral cultures of different cultures, but I feel like I'm looking at the hidden flesh of society by lifting something up. Because the funeral is also a culture, I felt the traces of cultural and historical exchanges shared with the Korean funeral culture in Taiwan.

The Philippine funeral culture was the most impressive to me personally. First of all, the population is very large. Overall, it is poor. And because it is a Catholic country, rather than creating unfamiliar ways such as Tibet or Baranasi, India, population overcrowding and poverty create a variety of funeral scenes in general burial and ritual customs.

Although there is a custom of hanging coffins from cliffs in some places depending on the local culture, they are typically buried in cemeteries. It is difficult to maintain these cemeteries for more than 5 years because they have been used by many poor people for so long. Cemeteries are continuously recycled or new graves are built on them. There are also apartment-type cemeteries. They make square graves with cement like in Vietnam, which was a French colony. Most of them seem to build graves on the ground rather than underground.

There are many large cemeteries near Manila, but in the 1950s, the poor came here and began to settle. There was nowhere to go, so I lived in tents on and between the graves, but now, 70 years later, it is a kind of small society. Thousands of people are born, live, work, and die in the cemetery. They live in a variety of jobs, including grave management, flowers, brick production, taxis, transportation, etc. At some point, the government legalizes living here and even gives out small business permits.

It is a culture where relatives come to see the deceased in person and say goodbye to their families by using crowns with windows installed in their funerals. Almost all Koreans visit the graves on Nov. 2 every year, which is called "All Souls Day." On this day, many families visit the graves as if going on a picnic rather than on a regular basis. Death is a part of daily life compared to Korea.