The proceedings were delayed by a sudden rainy downpour precisely at the starting moment, which, according to local lore, is a blessing as rain is of prime importance for the people hereabouts who depend on agricultural production for so much of daily needs.
The ceremonials began with the laying of an orange cloth reflecting the colour used with Silo’s Message and the Humanist Movement organisms.
A gong-bell brought those nearby to gather together, while a conch, reminiscent of the Shamanistic practises of the Philippines’ ancient religious heritage called those further off into the assembly of friends. This call deemed fitting in this site on Holy Mount Banahaw.
Just so, we were grouped around, forming our circle of friends who in turn spoke heart-felt words and read brief texts that had originated thanks to Silo’s extensive talks that were so much part of Silo’s way of dispersing his insights and proposals.
After some silent moments, a pinch of Silo body-dust was as if dropped into a bamboo receptacle central to a cleared square of earth where we stood, beneath the old mango trees at the higher end of the Park grounds. There was silence other than for the sounds of Nature.
The ashes were launched into circumambulation while friends bowed their heads in reverence, but not their hearts, which were engaged in holding the last grains of his wisdom for future endeavours.
Completing the circle, in a final ceremonial flourish, the bowl was assisted on its way to disintegration and incorporation into the earth, just as the ashes of Silo, granting his wish that nothing remain but his Message.
Like a billowing cloud in the sky as it moves into its unknown future, no trace remains of his passage, truly the Way of the Sage.
