Ultimate act of filial piety
While accompanying his parents to the tomb of his paternal grandmother, gets an insight into the traditions observed during Qing Ming
“RED candles, joss sticks, paper offerings, roast chicken, rice, fruits ...,” my mother mutters as she meticulously double checks her list with the contents in the car boot. Over the years, this prerequisite of hers has become a ritual of sorts before starting the journey to perform our annual Qing Ming rites.
Preparations began more than two weeks ago with the purchase of all the necessary praying paraphernalia from a shop in Pekan Cina, one of the oldest commercial areas in Alor Star and also the Kedah capital city’s Chinatown. These include paper crates filled with gold notes and hell currency with the names of each deceased ancestor prominently written to ensure their safe arrival in the netherworld.
Apart from fruits which were collected a few days ago, the other perishables are either cooked fresh at home earlier in the morning or collected from the shops during our drive out to the Alor Star Hokkien Association Cemetery in Jalan Langgar.
Directly translated to mean Clear and Bright Festival or Pure and Bright Festival, Qing Ming bears close resemblance to All Souls’ Day observed in Western cultures. Historians believe that Qing Ming first started out as a ritual observed by the people to celebrate Han Shi Jie, the Cold Food Festival.
According to a popular legend, Han Shi Jie owes its origin to an incident that happened during the late Zhou dynasty in China. It was said that Duke Wen of the feudal state of Qin invited his faithful subject Chieh Chih Tui to serve him after becoming the ruler of a small principality. Chieh
declined the invitation and retired to the mountains to look after his aged parents.
Slighted by the refusal, Duke Wen ordered his troops to set fire to the forest in a desperate attempt to force Chieh out of his mountainous home. Unfortunately, Chieh’s parents were too frail to flee the approaching blaze and the filial son chose to remain by their side until the end. The trio were burnt to death exactly 105 days after the December winter solstice.
Duke Wen was filled with remorse at the unnecessary death of innocent lives and decided to commemorate Chieh’s death by ordering all fires to be extinguished on each anniversary of his demise. That decree marked the beginning of Han Shi Jie where people had to eat uncooked food.
Chieh’s supreme sacrifice and his undying loyalty to his parents reminded the people of their own ancestors. They waited until the next day to restart the fires in their stoves and cooked food to making tomb offerings to their departed loved ones.
The practice of celebrating Han Shi Jie began falling into decline from the Tang period onwards and the day of making tomb offerings replaced it as the primary occasion to show filial piety as well as pay homage to ancestors.
As a result, Qing Ming is always celebrated in early April, exactly 106 days after the December winter solstice. Today, however, flexibility is given for the devout to observe this annual festival at any time as long as it falls within 10 days on either side of the actual Qing Ming date which is usually April 5 annually.
My family’s decision to choose a weekday to perform our tomb-cleaning rites pays off handsomely.
Apart from us, there are only a handful of people offering prayers at the opposite end of the expansive cemetery which is at least a century old. Glad not to be bogged down by the long snaking traffic jam which is a common feature during the weekends, we quickly make our way to my maternal grandmother’s tomb.
Along the way, my mother points out several elaborately-built graves belonging to several prominent community leaders before regaling me with tales about funeral rituals held in the past.
“Funeral observance forms an important part of Chinese social life. We undertake these rituals out of filial piety and belief that there’s a continued relationship between the living and dead. Although traditions have largely been simplified over the years, current practices continue to reflect those beliefs,” she explains.
Immediately upon the demise of an occupant, the living room is cleared of all furniture and household items as death is considered to be a polluting element. Idols of deities and mirrors in the entire house are covered with pieces of red cloth or paper while a red or white banner is plastered over the main door to signify to passers-by that someone in the household has passed away.
After that, preparation of the corpse would commence as soon as the death certification has been obtained.
The body is ritually washed with scented water as it’s believed that the deceased with an unclean body will be despised and punished severely in the afterlife. This rite, usually supervised by funeral parlour professionals, ends with the deceased’s eldest son symbolically wiping the body thrice.
Traditions practised since ancient times involve dressing the body in several layers of clothing. With each piece representing a generation of living descendants, the thickness of the layers corresponds with the fullness of life led by the deceased.
Before being placed in the coffin, a pearl is placed in the deceased’s mouth for protection and to secure a smooth journey through hell. These days, the pearl is substituted with a grain of rice which ensures that the departed will never have to go hungry. At the same time, ancient Chinese coins are placed in the left hand to pay guardian spirits and bribe judges in the netherworld.
The rulian or entering the wood ritual involves the process of placing the dead body in the coffin. A mirror and a bag of grain are placed inside as well to “light the way” and