As far as my memory goes, I had never missed a Qingming’s tomb-cleaning since 6 or 7 years old… not until this year.
My family members were all in Ipoh during the weekend for the annual routine; I was supposed to be back as well, but some unexpected web hosting problem had put my websites (not this one, but other more crucial income sources) into jeopardy… I had to weigh the importance and decided to stay back in KL to curb with the hosting issue.
Not really sure how I’m feeling now… a bit guilt feeling perhaps, as I often see Qingming as important (if not more important) as Chinese New Year. A bit moody too, Qingming often reminded me of my father and my grandmother… it’s not sadness, just a lot of thinking and memories-flashing.
Hmmmmmmm… I dunno, life goes on, tomorrow will be a better day.
March 26th, 2007 at 9:02 pm
don’t feel guilty, Jee.
they understand your situation.
March 26th, 2007 at 11:11 pm
alice… it’s not really guilt. I am sure there is a better word for my feeling, but it’s hard to describe… as if I am missing something important… a kind of sorrow but not really sad.
Anyway, I am not that kind of people that go moody for days; normally a nice sleep and a good meal will cure even the toughest depression lol.
March 27th, 2007 at 6:04 pm
Life still keep going…work is never ending…but the precious time and opportunity with family shld nvr to be missed…:) my own opinion
March 27th, 2007 at 10:18 pm
Well… can’t call tomb-cleaning a precious family time don’t we lol?
March 29th, 2007 at 9:03 am
Find hard for me on this event esp if u don’t know the deceased..related like ’cause it grandma/grandpa as knowing them while they are alive spending time with them….
i feel it abit funny with the photos staring at you wherever u walk.
remember most of time in chinese cemertry, can’t find the tomb, lol parents will call out =”where are you”..ha ha
now we are Christians and my parents are buried in Christian cemetry..it so much easier to locate the tombs…. not stating that u have to b buried in a Christian cemetry..but then again it’s worth a thought . what say u guys?.
March 29th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
RM… I’ve never actually heard anyone calling out “where are you” during Qingming… next time if I heard it I will answer them that “I’m here” for sure :p
Old Chinese cemetry are quite disorganized as you mentioned, but the newer cemetry are pretty well managed actually (but pretty expensive too).
April 14th, 2007 at 4:00 pm
I’m not very fond of Qing Ming (or “Cheng Beng”, as we Hokkiens call it) especially in its current form. To me it represents the best and worst of Chinese culture - the reverence of one’s ancestors and the tendency of excess and exploitative materialism….
I hope that when my time as come, I get cremated and put in a small urn in some easily accessible and air conditioned columbarium… preferably in a temple that has ISO14001 or something like that (so that there is no excessive burning of offerings that contribute to more greenhouse gases)….
April 15th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
ganchan… I can see your point. Some of the Chinese culture are pretty unreasonable indeed…