Wednesday 14 April 2010

Qing Ming 2010

Qing Ming (Tomb Sweeping Day) has just passed recently. This year the actual day for Qing Ming fell on April 5th. However, one can choose to visit the cemetery of ancestors within 10 days before or after the actual day.

For my family, it is a day where 3 generations gather together in our hometown, Melaka. Most importantly, this day brought everyone together with the common objectives, i.e. to remember our elders who have passed on. It is wonderful to have our young nieces and nephews with us when we visited my grandparents' and dad's cemetery. They offered a helping hand in cleaning up the cemeteries and also joined us in offering prayers to our elders. They may not know their ancestors personally but with their active participation on that day, they showed deep respect and a great sense of belonging.

Qing Ming is uphold as part of Confucious teaching on filial piety. Bet this noble teacher had other plan in mind too ~ i.e. to bring a family together for a happy reunion!

Seen in the photo is my niece refreshing the faded words carved on my grandma's tombstone with a new coat of paint.

2 comments:

Alexander said...

Haven't attended one of these for years. Nice photo that reminded me of it.

Alexander
Alex's World! - http://www.kakinan.com/alex

alicesg said...

Nice to see the young following traditions. We dont have much cemetery left cause of our small country. Most of our deads are creamted and housed in crematorium. We do observed qing ming festival too and we have to spit to two days for hubby and my family's ancestors.

"Use your first smile, your first form of generosity, of love, of kindness—use it at home; start at home. And if there is something left over—if … your plate is just full of abundance of patience and goodness and smiles and joy, then by all means, you should go … and offer that to others. But we must begin at home." by Dr Robin Smith