LXIII. My Forwarding Address -- Fifty Years Hence

After visiting a fairly varied sampling of cemeteries and graveyards these past several weeks in keeping with the “memorial” theme for this month of November, perhaps the only thing I haven’t done is take you on a tour of my own family’s mausoleum, a.k.a., my forwarding address fifty years from now.  (No, I don’t think I’ll live beyond 92 years old.  Nor would I probably really want to.)

We have had a family plot in San Rafael, Bulacan since the late 1960’s, when my grandmother purchased an approximately 140 square meter piece of land on a hillside in what was then the outside perimeter of the cemetery.  The cemetery itself is on a hill several hundred meters behind the old San Rafael Parish Church, approached by a straight uphill road from the rear of the church.  The road was flanked by rice fields and the area was previously uninhabited except perhaps by brave gravediggers who liked to live close to work.  

Our family plot was originally planned as an open-air garden, with three (a pair and a stand-alone single) above-ground white-pebble-washed niches for full-body burials set against the rear wall.  There were small niches, also against the rear wall, to enable the full niches to be cleared of remaining bones, prior to subsequent burials.  The front half of the plot was a lawn with grass and some ornamental plants.  The whole area was surrounded by a low iron fence, just to keep stray animals out.

By the mid-2000’s, apart from the fact that we already had lots of more recently-arrived neighbors there, the cemetery road had also become quite a residential district, and no, it wasn’t just sepultureros either.  Our family plot had become surrounded by other mausoleums of similar or even bigger sizes.  In fact, we were increasingly drowned out by the ever-taller facades, walls, and roofs of the neighboring mausoleums, aggravated by the natural erosion of our share of the hillside.  Each All Saints’ Day therefore became an increasingly depressing affair, with family members bemoaning the rather decrepit state our mausoleum had acquired.

So more than two years ago, we decided to take belated action.  The first step was to meet up with a pair of bright young ladies, recent graduates of the University of the Philippines and board-certified architects, and highly recommended to us by a family friend.  We shared with them our family’s ideas for this mausoleum project, particularly our preference that it be of a traditional Filipino design, evocative of Spanish colonial structures.

In November 2006, they delivered two very interesting design studies.

The first one was inspired by the façade of the Barasoain Church in Malolos, Bulacan, hometown of a number of branches of our clan.

The front elevation of this design echoed the classical proportions and contours of that famous façade, albeit on a smaller scale (of an overall height of 10.3 meters).  It specified a 4.65-meter-tall arched iron-grilled gate in the center, flanked by large arched iron-grilled windows, an iron-grilled “rose window” like on the original, and a meter-tall cross mounted on the semicircular pediment.

The rear wall followed the lines of the façade, with large arched iron-grilled windows on either side, flanking a large cross in the center, underneath which were a pair of above-ground full-body niches (labeled “graves” in the plans) in the middle, and single niches right under the windows, as seen in this “cross section.”

The idea was to continue to have full-body burials into the four niches, and to progressively transfer the resulting bones five years or so afterwards into bone niches set aside for this purpose.  There were to be fifteen bone niches on the left wall, arranged in a three-column-by-five-row configuration, as seen in this “longitudinal section.”

The entire area was to continue being unroofed as on the current design, with a paved pathway connecting the gate and the niches to enable mud-free pedestrian traffic, and benches placed in appropriate areas along the walls and on the lawn, as can be seen in this “site development plan.”

Note how the architects managed to compensate for the fact that the lot, although good-sized, did not have right-angled corners.  Among others, the facades and rear walls were forced to align with each other via the strategic positioning of the windows and main door at other than their exact “natural” should-be locations.

Our young architects offered a second design, which however retained the same exact site layout of the first one, as seen in this top view.

This second design was inspired by baroque-style Spanish colonial churches and cemetery chapels in the Philippines, including the one at Nagcarlan.  The façade has scroll forms above, and the pediment was topped by a cross-containing niche (in Nagcarlan the corresponding form held a bell), as seen in this front elevation.

The rear wall inside followed the lines of the façade, just like on the “Barasoain” design.

And the wall on the left held fifteen niches as on the first design.

It was rather difficult to get the opinions of the current residents on these two designs, but since tastes in our family tend to run fairly consistently across generations and from one member to the next, getting feedback from living family members was seen as a good way to achieve consensus.  Besides, they were all future “residents” anyway.

The feedback-solicitation process started as soon as these plans were received shortly after All Saints’ Day 2006, and by New Year’s Day 2007, the process was complete. “Barasoain” had trumped “Nagcarlan.”

While family members were reviewing the two competing designs, we had time to give in to the nagging of some family friends who insisted that such a “sensitive” project as the “alteration” of a cemetery merit at least a “feng shui” (traditional Chinese geomancy) consult.  I’m personally not a feng shui adherent, and this is of course a staunchly Roman Catholic family (except for a few renegades, but that’s another story), but let’s just say that we’re sufficiently conservative and cautious to prefer to not have any “negatives” with any of our "sensitive" family projects.

The highly-recommended feng shui master was thereby invited over to San Rafael, and he dutifully examined the current family plot, its environment, and its orientation.  He also obtained our birthdates, as well as the birthdates and dates of death of the current “residents.”

In short order, he methodically gave us quite a number of interesting recommendations, the most significant of which were that (1) we should avoid moving remains from full niches to bone niches – the remains of the deceased should always stay put; (2) because of the orientation of the plot, the gate should be at the left edge of the façade rather than in the center; (3) the niches should rest against the northern (right-side) wall, rather than the current western (rear) one, and (4) we should begin any physical work only after the 2007 Lunar New Year.

Of all his recommendations, the first one was probably the most significant, as we simply could not accommodate continued full-body burials given the fixed space in this plot, large though it may be.  My brother and I therefore decided to “legislate” cremations for all future burials in this family mausoleum, because that was the only way to comply with the “no transferring of remains” rule as well as to accommodate all future interments within.  To ease the adoption of this new rule in the face of resistance from some family members who had the perception that cremation was costly, we offered to “subsidize” the process if necessary.  (I sure hope that costs go down as they become more the norm in this country.)

We then took all the feng shui master’s recommendations to our architects, and after a number of considerable tweaks, particularly on moving the gate to the left and on doing away with full-body niches and instead having only bone and ash niches, we had revised “Barasoain” design plans by June 2007 (or comfortably well after the 2007 Lunar New Year).

The façade was exactly as in the November 2006 version, except of course the gate was now on the left side.

The rear wall only had windows this time, and no more full-body niches were provided for.

The wall of niches moved from the left to the right side, and now had considerably more niches.

The greatly increased number of niches, in nine rows and up to sixteen columns, was necessary to comply with another of the feng shui master’s guidelines to keep only members of the same generation in the same row, as well as to enable us to accommodate as many generations of family members as could be physically accommodated.  Thanks to this recommendation, as many as nine generations of family, stretching from the late 19^th century to potentially the end of the 22^nd century (depending on how prolific its members will be), may be accommodated in this mausoleum.

Because of these changes, we were able to streamline the overall layout of the plot.  With the niches all on the right side and the gate on the left, we could now have a generously-sized squarish lawn on the left, which we could pave along the perimeter, emulating the courtyard of a monastery cloister.

Since we were just four months away from the next All Saints’ Day, it was decided that construction should not begin immediately but was to be postponed to after then.  This gave us time to plan and mobilize the exact next steps.  The most important ones were to figure out how much soil would be needed to raise the ground level from its current level to approximately 30 cm (about a foot) above the level of the road in front (answer: seven truckloads) and how many adobe blocks were needed to line all surfaces, inside and out (answer: 2,700 blocks measuring 4" x 10" x 17" and 1,500 blocks measuring 4" x 4" x 17").

Sourcing the adobe blocks of just the right color was extremely important, as we wanted the appearance of the structure to be almost exactly like Barasoain Church.  This meant that we had to find a reliable source of light gray adobe, likely from known quarries within Bulacan province.  This was easier said than done, as numerous potential sources failed the color test miserably – some were too dark, others brown or yellowish rather than gray.  In the end, a source in Marilao town proved worthy, and we coughed up the required (considerable) sum to secure the supply.

Shortly after All Saints’ Day 2007, the project got underway. The area was filled in, and the soil allowed to settle.  (Bones of the current residents, except those of the most recent burial in 2004, were retrieved from the niches beforehand and set aside.)  Heavy U-shaped steel trusses were embedded in the ground, costly but necessary in order to hold up all four walls of the mausoleum, given the absence of a roof (which, if present, would have provided the required structural stability).  By Christmas Day 2007, the hollow-blocks-and-steel-bar-reinforcement constituting the façade had taken shape.

The rear wall too was progressing nicely.

The right side wall, nearly seven meters tall, was well in place, although the niches had yet to be built.

And the gate was looking comfortable in its new left-side location.

We returned to the San Rafael Cemetery on January 19^th, 2008, not so much to inspect the project, but to take a look at possible wrought-iron designs for the gate and windows. A relative operated a metalworking shop, and had offered samples of their past cemetery projects for our appreciation. Most though were too frilly for our (particularly my brother’s) spartan tastes.

We however liked the black paint on this one.

And the almost painfully simple lines on this example.

Two months later, on Holy Thursday March 20^th, the mausoleum had advanced sufficiently – in fact, the wrought iron grilles of our preferred designs were already in place, starting here with the façade.

There was even a rose window grille already, as well as a cross above the pediment.

Inside, the niche area was already roofed (the only part of the structure that would be) and also already had its own wrought-iron-grill wall.

The sliding doors for the niche area were of a simple yet classic wrought iron design.

The niches themselves had started to be constructed, beginning with the bottom three rows.

The windows for the niche area already had their iron grilles too, both in front

and in the rear.

The rear wall was already being clad in adobe blocks

as was the front wall directly behind the façade.

The original window in the center of the rear wall was now being filled in, as it was felt that the structure had a generous amount of open window spaces already anyway (plus of course it was open to the skies above), therefore a cross or some other religious image could eventually be positioned here instead.

By our next visit, on May 4^th 2008, the façade had been clad with adobe blocks as well, and the rose window enlarged slightly following our request.

And the remaining upper-portion rows of niches were nearing completion as well.

(Continued here.)

Originally published on 25 November 2008.  All text and photos copyright ©2008 by Leo D Cloma. The moral right of Leo D Cloma to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted.

Original comments:

puyat1981 wrote on Dec 2, '08 Maryosep!!! that is not a mausoleum! that is a church you guys are building!!!

rally65 wrote on Dec 2, '08 puyat1981 said Maryosep!!! that is not a mausoleum! that is a church you guys are building!!! Well, it IS supposed to be a mini-Barasoain Church!

jolotamayo wrote on Dec 2, '08 This one is a grueling but exciting project Mr. Cloma. I hope it'll be finished soon! :P

rally65 wrote on Dec 2, '08 jolotamayo said This one is a grueling but exciting project Mr. Cloma. I hope it'll be finished soon! :P Actually the project is finished -- it's the writing-about-it that isn't. Hopefully within the next couple of days, I can upload the continuation of the story -- please stand by.

jolotamayo wrote on Dec 2, '08 Oh...I'll wait for that! :P

arcastro57 wrote on Dec 3, '08 This is another potential Tourist Spot. Hahaha. Walang barbecue-han area?

arkd wrote on Dec 3, '08 hey! can t wait for chapter 2 of this article. curious how it turned out... a barbecue area from arcastro sounds actually interesting he he he

victorancheta wrote on Dec 3, '08 quite morbid but what a fascinating read!

puyat1981 wrote on Dec 3, '08 rally65 said Well, it IS supposed to be a mini-Barasoain Church! masungit. hahahaha

johnada wrote on Dec 5, '08 Great for you guys for the project.Iif something is undertaken, it might as well be immense. Interesting thing about the feng shui, it would be never fly with my family. It is a running joke here that it is not good to consult the feng shui practitioners as they might recommend placing the bathroom in the middle of the living room. A friend did place a well with buckets and all in the living room.

rally65 wrote on Dec 5, '08 johnada said Interesting thing about the feng shui, it would be never fly with my family. It is a running joke here that it is not good to consult the feng shui practitioners as they might recommend placing the bathroom in the middle of the living room. A friend did place a well with buckets and all in the living room. Fortunately our highly-recommended feng shui master was quite sensible. If he wasn't, we would simply ignore his points, I believe. In fact, we think that his recommendations made the structure more coherent -- and ensured excellent cross-ventilation besides. Ha ha.