John Jonas compares Halloween to the Philippines' Undas celebration on November 1-2, where families visit cemeteries, build altars, and leave food for ancestors. Julia, one of his offshore staff, explains how the tradition came from Spanish galleon trade with Mexico and why COVID cemetery closures since 2020 have disrupted workers' time off.
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Hello, and welcome to the Secret Sauce of Outsourcing Podcast, the podcast that's dedicated to making you better at outsourcing your work. My name is John Jonas, and this is episode 13. I hate Halloween, and the Philippines does it so much better than we do. So this is going to be controversial, and you're probably listening to this after the fact, but I hate Halloween. There, I said it. I hate Halloween. Of all the days of the year, it's my least favorite. In fact, the only costume I've had Since I was 13 is my current costume, which I bought two years ago, the Halloween Grinch. And if you go to my website, johnjonas.com you can see a couple pictures of me and my costume of the Halloween Grinch. So, in the US Halloween's a day where we teach our kids to disguise themselves as something evil or dark, then go from house to house begging. And if the people don't give you sugar for your begging, then you're allowed to do something mean to them. That's the purpose of Trick or Treat. Either give me a treat or I'm gonna play a trick on you. Then afterwards, my kids come home with this giant bag of candy, and them and I have a battle of how much of their candy that they, quote, work so hard for. Because that's what they always say. How much of it they get to keep. I say none. They say all because it's theirs and they worked so hard for it. And then one more thing. This is not a holiday. Halloween is not a holiday. Schools don't have it off. Banks don't have it off. I don't know why we talk about this. This is my favorite holiday. It's not a holiday. So that's my rant. Now let's move on to the Philippines. So Halloween's on October 31st. All Saints Day and All Souls Day in the Philippines are on November 1 and November 2. So here's what Julia, one of my OFS, had to say about All Saints Day and All Souls Day and comparing it to Dia de los Muertos in Mexico, she says, quick trivia. Did you know that the Philippines celebrate All Saints Day and All Souls Day around the same time? Mexicans celebrate Dia de los Muertos? And there are a lot of similarities to how we celebrate it. We both go to cemeteries and we both offer food and drink to our loved ones. We also have altars. We don't do the parades and costumes like Halloween, but in some places around the country, there would be parties in the cemeteries. The reason is because the tradition came from Mexico, back when Spain colonized the Philippines. Mexico and the Philippines had a strong. Had strong trade relations through the galleon trade, which, if you want to look up galleon trade on Wikipedia, you can do that and you'll see some interesting stuff about galleon trade. That's me interjecting into Julia's writing. She continues. Our celebrations aren't as elaborate as the Mexican Day of the Dead, but it's still a beloved tradition nonetheless. So typically, your OFS might ask you to take November 1st and 2nd off to celebrate All Saints Day and All Souls Day. We call it Undas with their families at the cemetery. But since 2020, cemeteries have been closed during the week of Undas to discourage people from celebrating at the same time and avoid crowding the cemeteries. Even though a lot of places are slowly opening up for vaccinated people, most local governments have deemed it necessary to continue with the closure of cemeteries during that week. So what does this mean for you and your ofs? Even though most can't go to the cemeteries, there's a chance that your worker might still ask to take holiday leave. So if they open up the conversation, you'll have to talk with them about it. Because of the ongoing restrictions, some of your workers might opt to ask for leave before or after the first week of November. If they're already vaccinated and their city allows cemetery visits, they might want to go and continue with their traditions. Even if it's not on the exact same day. Some might still have to take the holiday leave on November 1 or 2. They might opt instead to celebrate at home and participate in online mass or remembrance events. Some might opt to not to take their holiday leave at all. Even though local travel is now allowed, the quarantine requirements might still discourage them from going. That's the end of what Julia wrote about this. So this is the kind of holiday that I can get behind. Gather with family. You celebrate your ancestors and those who have gone before to make you who you are. It's no wonder that I love Disney's Coco the movie. It's one of my favorite movies. I love the feeling of celebrating your ancestry and who came before you and finding out who they are. I love that. Also, by the way, there are a lot more cultural things that I talk about in my book. The Outsourcing lever available@outsourcinglever.com it is free if you will just pay shipping. I think shipping is $7. Talk to you later.
