For many Chinese families in Malaysia and overseas, the festival of Qingming is a significant event in the cultural calendar.
Celebrated 15 days after the Spring Equinox, this holiday tends to fall somewhere in early April. This year, Qingming is today.
During this time, families who practise ancestral worship gather at the graves of loved ones, keeping them neat and tidy before leaving offerings to the deceased.
The origins of Qingming can be traced back to the Hanshi, or Cold Food, Festival, which commemorated the deeds of one Jie Zitui, a Jin nobleman from the 7th century under the Zhou dynasty.
The traditions of that festival – which is rarely celebrated although still observable in China, Vietnam and South Korea – ended up being conflated with those of Qingming.
Qingming is also referred to as the Tomb Sweeping Festival, highlighting the most important activity of the day in a culture that places emphasis on filial piety and ancestor worship.
Usually, traditional Chinese families bury their dead close to one another. And, just as how one’s financial status makes all the difference in life, the wealth of one’s family affects one’s burial.
Wealthy families tend to have elaborate tombs for their deceased members; if you find a grave with an impressive burial mound, it likely belongs to a wealthy person. Some of these can be quite elaborate, with a raised cement wall acting as a tombstone with details about the person’s life, achievements, and family.
Thus, cleaning these tombs is a sign of showing respect to one’s ancestors. It can be quite the undertaking, with underbrush often having to be cleared and hacked away with shears or parang.
These days, it is common for modern tombs to have burial mounds covered with cement, simplifying the cleaning process. Indeed, given how modern cemeteries are nowadays, grave maintenance is a lot easier than it used to be.
After cleaning up the grave, it is time to place offerings. Traditionally, a bowl of rice, some wine, and a few dishes are left as food for the deceased.
Afterwards, incense and paper hell money are offered, with family members burning them in the hope of ensuring a pleasant afterlife.
Nowadays, modern comforts are also provided for the dead, with paper offerings in the form of cars, houses, clothes, and jewellery being commonplace.
In the vein of contemporary western funerals, many families also leave flowers on graves. To chase away evil spirits from the resting place of their loved ones, some even light firecrackers, hoping the noise would scare these malevolent entities away.
In some regions, it is common practice to go for a nature walk after paying one’s respects, since Qingming tends to coincide with one of the year’s warmest periods.
And, while not commonly practised in Malaysia, kite-flying is a popular activity among certain families during this time. Some are attached with coloured lanterns, providing people on the ground quite the spectacle when these kites soar through the sky.
Some people believe they will be blessed by letting their kites fly away – thus, instead of reeling them in, they let their kites go, symbolising bad luck being carried away into the wind.
Like most Chinese celebrations, food is a big part of the festivities. As suggested by the aforementioned Cold Food Festival, families would traditionally eat uncooked dishes during this time.
In China, round, sticky and green dumplings are often served: they are called Qingtuan, and are usually filled with sweet red-bean paste.
For some families, a deep-fried salty dough twist called “sanzi” is the meal of the day, served cold and seasoned with sesame seeds.
Other traditional Qingming dishes include peach-blossom porridge, crispy cakes, snails, and eggs; they are usually cooked a day ahead in observance of cold food.
Hot or cold, eating is an activity enjoyed during this ancient festival that has survived across centuries and is celebrated by the Chinese community all over the world.
And, irrespective of one’s beliefs, remembering the generations that preceded you is always a good way of acknowledging one’s roots and ensuring you leave a legacy.