Ching Ming Festival

It has been raining on and off for the last few days. This time of the year (well, I still consider it winter since it sort of came late this year) the weather in Hong Kong is usually cool and dry. So, the drizzling in the past few days got me wondering. Then over the weekend, I saw many visitors at the cemetery near where we lived and then I remembered that Ching Ming festival is next Thursday (5 April)! Now it makes sense!

FYI, Ching Ming festival is the day we visit the graves of our ancestors and pay respect (these days, to avoid crowds, many will do it on the weekend before or after the actual day). And for some reasons, it always rain around that time. It happened so often, there is even a Chinese poem about it!

Anyways, as I have always been away from Malaysia (first in UK and now in HK), I have not been to visit any of my ancestors’ grave for quite a long time. In Malaysia, the cemeteries are quite a long way away from the city and people literally only visit the ancestral graves once a year. Other times, we just pay respect to their “plaques” at home. I only have very vague memories of our visits to the ancestral graves. I remembered having to get up very early (as I said the cemeteries are usually quite a long way away from the city) so that we can get there before the noon day sun. When we get there, we start by doing a bit (actually a whole lot) of gardening – image the length of one-year-old weeds! Then we do some spring cleaning on the tombstone and the surrounding area. Then we burn incenses etc. Then we sit down and have a picnic with our ancestors. Sounds very nice……only we have to do it under the burning tropical sun at over 30C!! That is why this is an annual event!