Walk the Candlelit Lanes of a Quezon City Cemetery on 1 November
The candles start appearing before dusk. On All Saints' Day, families stream through the gates of the city's Catholic and memorial-park cemeteries carrying chrysanthemums, gladioli, white lilies and marigolds, tins of repainted tomb paint, and food to share. Tombs are scrubbed and freshened in the days beforehand; by the evening of 1 November the graves are lit with candles that are meant to stay burning overnight. You can join the flow: walk the rows, watch families pray the rosary and the prayer for eternal rest at the graveside, and accept the quiet that settles over even the busiest grounds. Bring your own candle and flowers if you want to leave them; move slowly and keep your voice low, because this is a solemn family occasion, not a festival.
In 2026, All Saints' Day (Araw ng mga Santo) falls on Sunday 1 November, and All Souls' Day (Araw ng mga Patay) on Monday 2 November. Both are special non-working days in the official Philippine holiday calendar, so 31 October through 2 November forms a long weekend. By custom, 1 November is the main cemetery-visiting day, though liturgically 2 November is the day of prayer for the dead. Expect the city's roads and public transport to be busy: outbound travel peaks 29–31 October and the return 2–3 November.
Attend Mass, Then Follow the City's Undas Operations
Catholic churches across Quezon City hold special Masses on both 1 and 2 November. Check the parish nearest your hotel for its schedule and arrive early; these are among the most attended services of the year.
From 29 October to 3 November, the city government runs its "Alerto Undas 2026" operations, with personnel deployed at cemeteries and memorial parks for crowd management, safety and emergency response. That means uniformed staff at the gates, marked routes and first-aid points — use them. Ask an officer where the pedestrian entrances and exits are, and plan to arrive on foot or by public transport rather than driving into the immediate area.
Shop the Flower and Food Stalls Outside the Cemetery Gates
The market that matters at Undas is the one that springs up around the cemeteries. Vendors sell the flowers the season runs on — chrysanthemums, gladioli, white lilies, marigolds — along with candles by the bundle. This is where you buy what you'll carry to a grave, and where you'll see the city's families doing the same shopping at speed.
Food is part of the ritual: families share meals at the graveside, so expect stalls and carried-in coolers around the grounds and picnic-style eating on the grass and beside tombs. Join in by picking up food near the cemetery and eating as the families do — on the grounds, among the candles, as the light goes.
Use the Long Weekend to See How the Rest of the Country Marks Undas
Quezon City's observance is the urban, cemetery-centred version of a national holiday. If you have the 31 October–2 November weekend free, the regional traditions are worth knowing about and, where you can travel, worth seeing:
- Sagada, Mountain Province — the Igorot kutlong tradition, with bonfires and songs.
- Visayas and Mindanao — pangangaluluwa, house-to-house singing on the nights of 31 October and 1 November.
- Chinese Filipino families — some combine Qingming tomb-sweeping customs with Undas.
Book buses, ferries and domestic flights well ahead: demand is at its yearly peak on those dates.
Know the Rhythm Before You Go
Undas — also called Todos los Santos — is a predominantly Catholic observance (roughly 76 per cent of Filipinos are Catholic) and a solemn family occasion rather than a costume festival. Dress simply, keep phone conversations short near the tombs, and don't photograph grieving families without asking. On 1 November the crowds are at their heaviest: Manila North Cemetery, for comparison, recorded over one million visitors on 1 November 2025. Go early in the day or after dark, when the candles are lit and the grounds thin out.
Start with your dates: 1 November 2026 is a Sunday, 2 November a Monday, and the whole 31 October–2 November stretch is free of work for most Filipinos. Book your transport and accommodation before the October peak, find the parish Mass times for the days you'll be there, and set aside one evening to walk a cemetery with a candle in hand. That evening is the heart of Undas in Quezon City.