I m sure he d spotted Ariel, a cute friend who was with us in the room. But Filipino style, the dying s only the beginning. The running priest, Fr. Then there was the UP Madrigal Singers moving everyone to tears. And the eulogies that made us smile as we remembered Rock, dancing away in discos.
Times do change and so do our rituals for the dead.
Rock s was a feminist funeral, all the way up to women pallbearers. Then there was the cremation. I m so glad the Catholic Church now allows cremations, which are so much more environmentally friendly and which comes so much closer to what we ve all been taught about our lives, from ash to ash. But I think Filipinos will need time to adjust to the cremations. Filipinos also tend to feel uneasy about the burning process.