Sunday, March 29, 2009

Cheng Beng


This is my dad, doing his bit in burning some money. ( Symbolic of course ...what you burn will reach the "other" side.) He used the wrong spot to burn....ie Grandmother's spot..anything burned in this will reach her. And as she's catholic...my mother was quick to quipt " Amah doesn't need money, she's catholic".( The visit was to honour my Buddhist Grandfather..who died when I was five years old.)
Cheng Beng is the chineses' All Souls Day. It usually falls on the 104th day following the winter solstice, around the 5th of April. Chinese families honor their ancestors by visiting the graves , clearing it up and repairing any broken bits. Having one grandparent Buddhist and the other Catholic means doing these separately.We brought with us , 2 umbrellas ( because it always rains when we're there ), jossticks, a cigrarette lighter,( although nobody smokes this is much handier than a match), some food and wads of cash. ( fake ones.)

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