Last weekend we went back to Johor for the Qing Ming festival. I should say that it was really an eye-opener for a very ’sua-ku’ me. I have not been to the graveyard for ages (literally speaking-la) and have not attended any Tomb Sweeping Day at the Tan’s family. BTW, I’m married to a Hokkien Tan family.
According to experience, Granny said we had to wake up at 5am so that we would not be stuck in the jam at the graveyard. I didn’t really understand what she meant, but when we were up the hill, there were crowds of people with umbrellas, scythes, trowels, joss sticks, flowers, fruits, teacups and whatnots. Unfortunately, there were no proper car parks and we had to park our car next to an empty space in front of another person’s tomb. There were throngs of people, from the young to the old.
I was really excited because I got to witness the rituals of Tomb Sweeping which I don’t really know. While walking to our grandfather’s tomb, in the drizzling rain and the mucky ground, there were so many flashes of colourful lights from the fireworks (yep, fireworks at the graveyard) and the resounding noises from the firecrackers.
I had no idea why there were fireworks and firecrackers on a Qing Ming Day. Truly beats me, man. I’ve heard of fireworks for the New Year, but Qing Ming???? I guess, it’s like a wake-up call to the dead, so that they would ‘come out’ and eat??? I kept walking with my jaws opened, fascinated with the fireworks in the grey skies of the early day.
The guys scraped off weeds from the grounds near grandfather’s grave and the rest of us hurried to prepare an impromptu altar to put the offerings and tea. There were so many ‘pantangs’ and I had no idea why we were not allowed to do this, why we were not allowed to say that. Jeez, I wonder if our generation would remember all those rules and regulations of Qing Ming. I had so many questions myself, like, why do we need to bring along a pomelo leaf in our pockets? and why do we need to discard the pomelo leaf before we reach home? why must we place colourful papers on top of the tomb? Why are some tombs covered with red cloth? Why can’t we lift up the ‘gold ingots’ to let it burn faster?
I know I’m not very traditional and is not well informed with customary traditions, thus, I try to learn more about it now.
I think most young people nowadays are also quite ignorant about the traditions which our forefathers religiously adhered to for so many generations. So, attending these events is a good experience and we get to learn new things from the elders.
Yeah, I know, this is quite a boring entry but I wanna document this event so that I could remember the day I was flabbergasted with fireworks…at the graveyard. That really was different. hehe.
I hope I won’t be 
Err…Anyway…I’m really, REALLY happy that I can start colouring and painting, just to satisfy my craving for a little bit of creativity on my artistic side. Heee!
