Observed a late Qingming, Tomb Sweeping Day, with Dad yesterday at the plaque sites for my maternal Grandpa and Great Grandma, Grandpa's mother. They opted to be cremated instead of buried.

清明 Qingming is on the 5th of April every year, which fell on a Wednesday this year. We unfortunately were all busy then.

In years past, in my opinion, it was a needlessly elaborate affair. My Grandma would bring several baskets and boxes filled with food offerings for Grandpa and Great Grandma as well as the cemetery communal shrine. She would insist on specifically offering up a whole crayfish and a kilo of roast pork as well as rice wine to Grandpa. Ghost Grandpa ate and drank well on Qingming. She would lay down a whole bunch of incense and before the present-day cemetery-wide fire ban, she would bring a stove to burn all sorts of joss paper, hell and heaven bank notes (to cover both bases) as well as paper clothes.

Dad and I kept it quite minimal this time. We just did quick sweep and clean of the site and put down some incense for Grandma, Great Grandma, their immediate neighbours and the communal shrine. Also 土地公 Tudigong "Lord of the Land" of the cemetery received some incense.

On the way, I noticed some families are adapting with the times and offering some of the good ol' Colonel to their ancestors. I mean, had I known that was an acceptable thing to do, I would have brought some for Grandpa. He was very fond of the Hot and Spicy. 😝❤️

#清明 #Qingming #TombSweepingDay