The tomb festival, or Qing Ming Jie, is celebrated on April 5th this year. During this time, the Chinese pay respect and gratitude to their ancestors who have passed on. This is a part of the concept of filial piety—the belief that it is our duty to care for our parents and honor them when they are alive and after they pass away.

The Chinese believe that filial piety begins at birth, as your parents care for you and provide for you while you are young. This tradition requires that you reciprocate their love by giving them support when they are elderly and cannot care for themselves.

It is also believed that filial piety continues on after your parents have died. People who practice this culture will visit their parents’ gravesites, perform cleaning rituals there, sweep away dust and dirt from gravestones, burn incense and paper money (this is also known as hell money), and leave offerings such as food or wine for the spirits of their ancestors.

The Chinese in Sarawak still continue this traditional practice. On this day it is common to see families paying their respect to their departed ancestors in cemeteries across Sarawak. This tradition is so important that children who worked elsewhere would fly home just to pay respect to their late parents as a sign of filial piety.

As usual, my wife Roselind and I will visit the graveyards of her late parents during the tomb festival. Since April 5th is a Tuesday, we decided to hold the ceremony on April 3rd which is a Sunday. Early in the morning, we went to buy flowers and candles before proceeding to the cemetery. When we reached the cemetery, there were already a few families there.

This is the footpath leading to the graves of Roselind's parents.

Because Roselind and I are Catholics, we offer only candles and flowers as signs of our respect. For those who are Buddhists, they will burn hell money, and incense and offer cooked food and wine.

It is very common to see paintings of a boat or raft on a river with beautiful scenery. It is hoped that the departed person's journey from here to the afterworld will be as calm, peaceful and beautiful as depicted in the painting.

I am saying a prayer for Roselind's parents. Both of my parents have also already passed on. But since they are both Catholics, I would go to their graveyards during All Souls Day.

This family is taking a break after cleaning the graveyard.

A family offering prayers while the hell money is burning.

The remnants of hell money and other paper offerings after these are burnt. Some families would burn paper replicas of credit cards, cars, houses, land titles, etc.

This is our ritual every year during Qing Ming Jie. It is a way of honoring and thanking our parents for all that they have done for us. Do you have a similar festival in your country? Do tell us about it.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hive Blog Posting Month

The Hive Blog Posting Month is a challenge where you post an article every day for the month of April. I have started posting daily since the middle of March and so I was very happy when I came across this challenge and I hope that it will help me to maintain my momentum.

A big thank you to the fabulous Hive account@traciyork for organizing the #hiveblopomo initiative. This is my entry for 20 April 2022.