Celebration planned to honour ancestors
It’s a time to celebrate family and reconnect with the past.
Each year, on the first Sunday in June, members of the local Chinese community gather at an area of Fairview Cemetery to mark the Ching Ming Festival, a traditional ceremony which involves cleaning grave sites as a show of respect to their ancestors.
Approximately 170 people attended the ceremony last year, which also includes planting flowers, lighting incense and a ritual burning of artificial money.
More than 200 people from across Canada and parts of the United States are expected to attend this year’s festival which will also mark the official unveiling of the new Red Maple Tree Garden area at the Stanley Avenue cemetery.
Niagara Falls Cemetery Services staff met with representatives from the Chinese community in 2016 to discuss the opportunity of developing a parcel of land adjacent to the Ching Ming Festival area into a Chinese community section.
The Red Maple Tree Garden features more than 200 lots just beyond a red maple tree grove which was planted in 2009 in dedication to the Chinese people who were buried in the cemetery over the previous 125 years.
One hundred and thirty-two lots have already been sold, said Mark Richardson, the city’s manager of cemetery services.
“The community’s reaction has been overwhelming,” he said Monday. “Our office has been very busy.”
Niagara Falls Coun. Kim Craitor, who has attended the Ching Ming Festival for many years, was impressed by the new area.
“It’s a very innovative idea,” he said. “It’s great for the Chinese community to have a designated section.”
The area includes a traditional Chinese gateway arch which was designed, built and donated by Mike Watson and Brad Murray of Yardmasters Niagara.
“I’m really happy with the way it turned out,” Watson said. “We’re glad we could be a part of this.”
The arch is made out of cedar and stands approximately 12 feet tall with an eight-foot-wide opening.
Yardmasters Niagara worked closely with members of the Chinese Cultural Association of Niagara to design the arch.
“It’s beautiful,” said Loy Chong, chairman of the Niagara Falls Ching Ming Festival. “The Chinese community is very happy. We could not ask for anything better than this.”
Zwanzan cherry trees were planted on the site as well as a number of Ginkgo trees, which celebrate the two that once stood on Park Street to mark the cultural heritage of the Chinese community in Niagara.
During the early 1900s, the area of Park Street and Erie Avenue was known as Niagara’s Chinatown due to the large number of Chinese immigrants who came here to live and work.
Back then, due to government restrictions which included fines followed by an outright ban on Chinese in Canada, immigrants were often alone in their new country.
When they died, there was often no family nearby to assist with burials so fellow Chinese immigrants would arrange for the funeral services.
Approximately 125 of those early settlers are buried at Fairview Cemetery.
The Ching Ming Festival will be held Sunday starting at 11 a.m. with the planting of red geraniums at the grave sites. A ceremony will follow at 1 p.m.
“Rain or shine, we’ll carry on,” Loy said, adding members of the public are welcome to attend the event.
Traditionally, the Ching Ming Festival — also known as Tomb Sweeping Day — is celebrated every April 5. In Niagara Falls, however, the event is marked on the first Sunday in June because the weather is warmer and flowers can be planted.