THE HEAVENLY FINALE
100 DAYS TO HEAVEN
NOVEMBER 18 2011
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Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
TRIVIA: TURN THE ASHES OF YOUR LOVED ONES INTO BEADS
By HYUNG-JIN KIM - Associated Press | AP – 17 hours ago
ICHEON, South Korea (AP) — The intense grief that Kim II-nam has felt every day since his father died 27 years ago led to a startling decision: He dug up the grave, cremated his father's bones and paid $870 to have the ashes transformed into gem-like beads.
Kim is not alone in his desire to keep a loved one close — even in death. Changes in traditional South Korean beliefs about cherishing ancestors and a huge increase in cremation have led to a handful of niche businesses that cater to those who see honoring an urn filled with ashes as an imperfect way of mourning.
"Whenever I look at these beads, I consider them to be my father and I remember the good old days with him," a gray-haired Kim, 69, told The Associated Press in an interview.
"As a little boy, I often fell asleep while being hugged by my father," he says, sobbing and gazing at the blue-green beads, which sit on a silk cloth in a ceramic pot on a table.
A decade ago, six out of every 10 South Koreans who died were buried, a practice in line with traditional Confucian instructions to respect dead ancestors and visit their graves regularly. Since then there has been a big shift in South Koreans' thinking about the handling of the deceased, in part, officials say, because of Western influence and a strong government push for citizens of this small, densely populated country to consider cremation as a way to save space.
The government cremation campaign included press statements, pamphlets and radio broadcasts. A law passed in 2000 requires anyone burying their dead after 2000 to remove the grave 60 years after burial.
The results have been dramatic: The cremation rate last year was so high that only 3 in 10 were buried.
About 500 people have turned their loved ones' ashes into Buddhist-style beads at Bonhyang, a company based in Icheon, just south of Seoul. It and several other ashes-to-beads companies say they have seen steady growth in their business in recent years.
Bonhyang founder and CEO Bae Jae-yul says the beads allow people to keep their relatives close to them, wherever they go. He also says stored ashes can rot, a claim denied by crematoriums. "Our beads are clean; they don't become moldy and don't go off and smell bad," he says.
Bae uses ultrahigh temperature to melt cremated ashes until they are crystalized and can be turned into beads in a 90-minute process. The colors are mostly blue-green but sometimes pink, purple and black.
The ashes of one person can produce four to five cups of beads, Bae says, although the ashes of young people have a higher bone density that can yield up to eight cups of beads.
Bae isn't the first to use the technology in South Korea.
A meditation organization obtained similar bead-making technology in the late 1990s, but it was imperfect and wasn't long in the public eye, Bae says. He says he saw the potential, bought the technology and spent several years refining the process.
Bae believes his company has an important edge over rivals. His beads are made purely from human remains with no added minerals, which he says other companies blend in.
Bonhyang's chief rival, Mikwang, says added minerals help produce more rounded, gemlike beads faster and at lower temperatures.
Mikwang officials say they have more business than Bonhyang but refuse to disclose their profits. Bae also refused to disclose business details. No special government license is necessary to start an ashes-to-beads business, according to the Health Ministry, which says individuals have the right to determine how to dispose of loved ones' remains.
The fledgling industry has drawn some criticism.
"They are only interested in making business profits," Do Young-hoon, a researcher on South Korea's funeral culture, says. "The highest level of respect for the dearly departed is to let them go back to nature."
Businesses turning the dead into beads were launched in the United States, Europe and Japan in the past, but were mostly unsuccessful because few people regarded it as a normal way to dispose of dead bodies, says Park Tae-ho, chief researcher at the Korea National Council for Cremation Promotion, a Seoul-based civic group.
Bae's customer Kim, a retired high school principal, says it took some time to persuade his family to accept his plan to honor his father "because they thought a ghost could come to our home along with these beads."
Every morning, Kim, a Catholic, prays to his father's beads, which he keeps on a bookshelf. He takes some beads with him in his car and has also given some to his five daughters.
Despite loyal clients like Kim, Bae says he is still years away from seeing a profit, partly because of the emergence of copycats. But he still feels confident about his business when he sees his customers' delighted reaction to the product.
"People are moved," Bae says, "and I feel it's something worthwhile. I'm confident this business will flourish considerably someday."
Bae says seven Buddhist temples and one Catholic church lease his bead-making machines. He is also negotiating deals over his technology with dozens of other religious organizations in South Korea, and with businesses in China, Thailand, Japan and the Philippines.
Ashes-to-beads businesses could also get a boost when South Koreans take advantage of next year's quadrennial leap month in the lunar calendar to conduct cremations. There's a traditional belief that the ghosts that supervise humans go on vacation during a leap month, so many people in South Korea don't feel sinful for relocating graves or digging up their relatives for cremation.
Kim plans to exhume his mother and make beads from her remains next year.
"I've also told my daughters I want my ashes turned into beads," he says.
In this Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011 photo, Kim Il-nam, a retired high school principal, displays beads made from his father's ashes during an interview in Icheon, South Korea. Kim dug up his father's grave, cremated his bones and paid $870 to have the ashes transformed into gemlike beads. "Whenever I look at these beads, I consider them to be my father and I remember the good old days with him," Kim said. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
In this Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011 photo, Kim Il-nam, a retired high school principal, displays beads made from his father's ashes during an interview with the Associated Press in Icheon, South Korea. Kim dug up his father's grave, cremated his bones and paid $870 to have the ashes transformed into gemlike beads. "Whenever I look at these beads, I consider them to be my father and I remember the good old days with him," Kim said. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
In this Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011 photo, Bae Jae-yul, founder and CEO of Bonhyang, speaks near Buddhist-style caskets to be used to contain ashes-to-beads at his company in Icheon, South Korea. About 500 people have turned their loved ones' ashes into Buddhist-style beads at the company. It and several other ashes-to-beads companies say they have seen steady growth in their business in recent years. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
In this Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011 photo, Bae Jae-yul, founder and CEO of Bonhyang, speaks near machines that transform human ashes to gemlike, decorative beads, at his company in Icheon, South Korea. About 500 people have turned their loved ones' ashes into Buddhist-style beads at the company. It and several other ashes-to-beads companies say they have seen steady growth in their business in recent years. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
In this Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011 photo, Kim Il-nam, a retired high school principal, displays a small glass bottle containing beads made from his father's ashes during an interview in Icheon, South Korea. Kim dug up his father's grave, cremated his bones and paid $870 to have the ashes transformed into gemlike beads. "Whenever I look at these beads, I consider them to be my father and I remember the good old days with him," Kim said. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
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MANILA'S WEEKEND MARKETS
by Mike Aquino for Yahoo! Southeast Asia
My wife likes to do our household shopping on Sundays. Sunday mornings are the best time to hit the markets, she says, when the items have just arrived from the farms, "bagong bagsak" as she likes to say.
Plenty of other kumanders think the same way; Sunday is a big market day for many other families in Metro Manila, and plenty of weekend markets have sprouted to meet the demand.
The weekend market is a fixture of cities all around the world. In Bangkok, Thailand, the gigantic Chatuchak Weekend Market's 15,000 shops serve about 200,000 visitors each day. In the west, weekend markets in major cities have become the best way for organic farmers to get their produce directly into the city dwellers' hands.
The motivation and the market are much the same in Manila: small farmers and "artisanal" producers use weekend markets to sell directly to customers without the big supermarkets' intervention. One of the first weekend markets to hit it big in Manila was the Sidcor Sunday Market in central Quezon City. First opened in 2000, Sidcor soon became a byword for fresh organic produce.
The concept soon gained popularity in the rest of the city, and today weekend shoppers can count on having a weekend market somewhere close, wherever they may be.
In Makati, the weekend market operates in two different places from Saturday to Sunday: at Salcedo Village on Saturdays, and at Legazpi Village on Sundays. In Fort Bonifacio, Mercato Centrale (and Midnight Mercato) serve weekend shoppers and late-night foodies alike. And to the far south, the Soderno @ Molito Lifestyle Center opens on November 18, giving Alabang-based shoppers a weekend market of their own.
Every weekend market is different. Sidcor's huge floor area holds a large number of stalls selling everything from garden supplies to regional delicacies to organic produce to fresh meat. The Legazpi Sunday Market, in comparison, is small and quite neighborly. Here, the stall owners are quite happy to make conversation about the freshness of their artisanal bagoong. Legazpi is as leisurely as Sidcor is hot, heavy, and packed.
Every market offers a different take on the Philippines' regional dishes. My wife is partial to Sidcor's lechon kawali, while I'm addicted to the Legazpi Sunday Market's "Bud-Bud Kabog", a specialty suman made from millet, and manufactured in different flavors. Diners who want a whole spread of organic cuisine can try Mercato Centrale's all-organic brunch buffet — P150 lets you fill your plate (and your belly) with organic salads, Kalinga-grown brown rice, and chicken lollipops made from free-range chicken, among other delicacies.
Moms searching for fresh produce will find farm-fresh vegetables, fruits, and meats in any weekend market. These are mostly grown to organic standards (although only the farmer knows for sure). Because of each farms' relatively small production output, prices on these organic goods tend to be higher, almost double of their counterparts in the supermarkets.
But high prices aren't the norm in weekend markets; I've found plenty of inexpensive surprises in weekend market stalls selling huge slabs of bagnet, exotic fruits, and delicious homemade kakanin.
The weekend market isn't just good for farmers seeking a more direct way to sell to city folk like us; it's good for city folk like us who want great value on foods we won't find anywhere else, or on any other day of the week.
List of Metro Manila Weekend Markets
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Tuesday, November 1, 2011
KABABALAGHAN WITH NOLI DE CASTRO
Naging tradisyon na ng bawat tahanang Pilipino ang pagtunghay sa mga kwentong puno ng misteryo at kababalaghan. Katulad ng mga hindi pangkaraniwang nilalang, mga elementong hindi nakikita at mga misteryosong nagaganap na walang kapaliwanagan. Mga kuwentong nagdudulot ng takot at pangamba at mga karanasang sumusukat sa ating pananalig at pananampalataya. Ngayong gabi, mga panibagong makatindig balahibong istorya ang gigising sa inyong kamulatan. Samahan nyo kaming silipin ang mundo ng KABABALAGHAN.
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THE 7 BILLIONTH PINOY BABY
The Philippines welcomed one of the world's symbolic "seven billionth" babies Monday, after she arrived to a celebratory cheer at a packed government-run hospital.
Weighing 2.5 kilos (5.5 pounds), Danica May Camacho was delivered just before midnight Sunday amid an explosion of media flash bulbs in the delivery room at Manila's Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital.
"She looks so lovely," the mother, Camille Dalura, whispered softly as she cradled her tiny baby.
"I can't believe she is the world's seventh billion."
The baby is the second child for Dalura and her partner, Florante Camacho, who quietly stood in a corner wearing a white hospital gown as television crews and photographers crowded to get a shot of his daughter.
The parents and the baby were met by top United Nations officials in the Philippines, who presented the child with a small cake.
There were also gifts from local benefactors including a scholarship grant for the child's study, and a livelihood package to enable the parents to start a general store.
Also on hand to witness the landmark event was 12-year-old Lorrize Mae Guevarra, who was declared the world's symbolic six billionth baby in 1999 and is now in the sixth grade.
"I am very happy to see this cute baby. I hope like me she will grow up to become healthy and well loved by everyone," Guevarra said.
The child is one of several in countries around the world being declared a symbolic seven billionth human.
It was hoped she would arrive at exactly midnight, but she was delivered two minutes early.
Health Secretary Enrique Ona said the arrival of the world's seven billionth baby also presented the Philippines with an opportunity to assess population related issues.
According to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) State of the World Population Report, the Philippines is the 12th most populous country in the world with 94.9 million people.
China continues to have the biggest share of the population at 1.35 billion, followed by India at 1.24 billion.
The report noted that in many parts of the developing world, where population growth outpaces economic growth, reproductive health care remains a crucial issue.
UNFPA representative Ugochi Daniels said that while the Philippine population remains young, with people under 25 making up 54 percent of the total, they needed to be taught proper "life skills" and about sexual issues.
She said that while women were having fewer children globally, the overall population continued to go up.
"While our world of seven billion represents a complex picture of trends and paradoxes, there are some essential global truths we observe," she said.
"Conversely, there is no one global population outlook."
The UNFPA said 10 percent of Filipino girls aged 15 to 19 have started child bearing, with many of the young also increasingly vulnerable to HIV.
A newborn baby girl named Danica Camacho, the Philippines' symbolic "seven billionth baby" who is part of the United Nations' seven billion global population projection, lies on the chest of her mother Camille in Fabella Maternity hospital in Manila October 31, 2011. The world's population will reach seven billion on 31 October 2011, according to projections by the United Nations, which says this global milestone presents both an opportunity and a challenge for the planet. While more people are living longer and healthier lives, says the U.N., gaps between rich and poor are widening and more people than ever are vulnerable to food insecurity and water shortages. REUTERS/Erik De Castro (PHILIPPINES - Tags: SOCIETY POVERTY HEALTH)
Danica Mae Camacho, the Philippine's symbolic 7 billionth baby is coddled by her mother Camille during a welcoming ceremony in Manila. The Philippines welcomed the world's symbolic seven billionth baby October 31 with a celebratory cheer at a packed government-run maternal hospital. Weighing 2.5 kilos, Danica May was delivered just shortly before midnight on October 30
Danica Mae Camacho, the Philippine's symbolic 7 billionth baby is coddled by her mother as United Nations resident coordinator Jacqui Badcock (L) hands a gift during a welcoming ceremony in Manila. There were also gifts from local benefactors including a scholarship grant for the child's study, and a livelihood package to enable the parents to start a general store
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AFP News – Mon, Oct 31, 2011