It’s that time of the year again where the Chinese get to the cemeteries to pay respect to their ancestors.

The sight of the families armed with brooms, spades, and hoes cleaning the graves, and giving offerings for the departed souls indicate the arrival of the Qing Ming Festival.

The festival is observed every April 5, that falls this Sunday, by the Chinese to commemorate their ancestors. However, the grave visits start 10 days before and even continues after the day.

Qing Ming literally means ‘tomb sweeping day’. On the day, family members will be seen sweeping and weeding their ancestors graves and touch up headstone inscriptions. They also burn incense sticks and make food and paper offerings - all in the name of paying homage to the departed souls.

The array of paper offerings in the form of luxury cars, bungalows and even currency notes tell the extent that the families are willing to go in ensuring a comfortable afterlife for the departed family members.

    

Strengthening family relationships

However, for the living the Qing Ming is an equally significant occasion as it helps to foster closer family ties.

Kuala Lumpur Chinese Assembly Hall chief executive officer Tang Ah Chai highlighted that other than the Chinese New Year (CNY), Qing Ming provides another opportunity for family members to return to their respective hometowns to pay respect to their ancestors.

“Having paid their respects to the deceased, family members will usually linger around to catch up with one another and recount the old stories to the younger ones in the family. It’s more like a family reunion,” he said.

Tang also explained that tomb-sweeping is a cultural tradition where anyone from the Chinese community is free to pay respect to their ancestors regardless of their religion.

“Everyone is free to conduct their prayers according to their own religion,” he said.

In Malaysia Qing Ming is very much limited to the veneration of the dead but back in China the festival also marks the joys of spring.

Chief executive office of Xiao En Cultural Centre Dr Ong Seng Huat said; “In China the festival marks the peak of the spring season, where everything including life flourishes - a high time for ploughing and sowing, and a season of hope.”

“It is a celebration of gratitude and life, reminding people to be thankful that they are alive to appreciate family members who have passed on,” he said.

Hence, this does not make tomb-sweeping a mournful or grim occasion. In fact it provides one with the opportunity to reflect on life.

    

Present obsevances and thoughts

Although many things have changed over time, Dr Ong noted that filiality, gratitude and righteousness were still the mainstays for the Chinese community during Qing Ming Festival.

Therefore, he encouraged parents to bring kids along for tomb-sweeping, as the activity provides parents a great opportunity to educate children on their own family history and values.

Some may think that the tomb-sweeping culture is dying, but Tang begged to differ.

He observed there is an increasing number of families flocking to graveyards during Qing Ming festival. It seems that even in Kuala Lumpur the tradition is still very much alive.

“I suppose people realise the importance of close-ties with their family members through the festival,” he said.

The perceptions of the younger generation

For Sim Yean Leng, the Qing Ming Festival is literally a trip down the memory lane.

Every year, Sim will follow her family to visit her great-grandparents’ graves back at Ayer Hitam, Penang.

“The whole family will gather around after weeding my great-grandparents’ graves, where we will share food and the elders will recount stories from the past. It’s a bonding session for the family,” said the 21 year-old college student.

She said the festival is important to her as she gets to meet and catch up with family members that she missed during CNY.

“Qing Ming is a time for me to be reflect on life,” said accounting and finance student, Tan Dao Hong, 22.

Besides remembering the departed souls, the festival never ceased to remind Tan and his family to uphold their family values.

“It is somehow a very stark reminder of how short-lived our days ahead could be. Besides remembering the past, I feel a sense of responsibility to live on the legacy left behind by my ancestors,” he said, adding that he usually avoided visiting his grandparents’ graves on the day due to the crowds and the traffic jams on the roads leading to the graves.

“The road to the cemetery will be extremely jammed, so my family and I usually go before or after a week of the festival,” he said.

- Bernama