Qing Ming - 扫墓

Last night slept quite quite late. Early this morning was dragged out of bed, because needed to go pray to my late grandmother at Kong Meng San (Brighthill Temple). It is Qing Ming - 扫墓 (otherwise known as Tomb Sweeping Day). People commemorate this period to remember their past ancestors. Today is a public holiday, also Good Friday, also the 15th of the lunar month, also a very very very hot morning. And because it was supposedly a good day, throngs and throngs and throngs of people were also there to offer prayers to the dead. Rows and rows of temporary tents were erected outside the temple, with rows of tables for the offerings brought by people to be placed on.

My parents laid the fruits and food and some of my grandmother's favourite kuehs on the table, poured a cup of hot tea, laid a stack of incense paper and those symbolising paper money. The most interesting was mom has also bought 4 sets of paper blouses (all in different colours and flowery designs) atypical of what old ladies wear, plus a pair of paper slippers similar to what grandmother used to wear. This was what I blogged about earlier. This is a Chinese tradition where the living ones ensured their departed loved ones get to possess some of the things in the netherworld. These items and the paper money would be burnt at the end of the session.

After we offered our prayers to invite grandmother's spirit to come and enjoy the food, we proceeded inside the hall where her urn containing her ashes was. There were rows and rows of urns in the entire hall all stacked neatly in different heights. At the time when grandmother passed away about 30 years ago, her children booked and purchased a lot for her urn here and it was placed almost to the bottomest level and innermost of the rack ie. meaning we had to squat down in order to see her urn. Then a few years after her death, my father shifted another more ideal lot for her (at a higher price, of course). This time it was at eye level and facing out to a window. The elderly believed the higher and easily located a lot is, the more auspicious and better for the descendants if their ancestors were "located" in an ideal position. (In the older days, the departed were buried in graves, and Chinese believe if the position and location of the grave is ideal, this will benefit the future generations.

There were also those urns which were placed up higher than eye level, till almost the ceiling. So what did the relatives had to do when they wanted to pay respect to the dead? There was a mobile staircase available where it could be pushed around. Relatives can move the staircase to where the urn was, and climbed up the staircase to the level, and prayed from above.

It was a tremendously hot morning with huge crowds. Everyone was practically rubbing shoulders with each other. And I was soaking wet from sweat. I did not mind doing this as this was just once a year and it was our tradition of paying respect to my grandmother. I wonder if this practise will cease at my parents' generation or my generation? I am quite sure it will be lost in the next generation.