sketch.phua

i dun like to see guang fend appear immediately on my screen when my blog loads.. so i throw in this new post.
This is the first time i feel that chinese culture is a bagage..
Take a funeral session for example. A very short session of the funeral would last 3 days, full session, 5 days, (i think) and during this period of time, your life daily life would be disrupted very badly. or maybe just disrupted.. not badly.
how? a standard funeral package offers sending off ceremony, chanting scriptures ceremony staying overnights. the sending off requires the family members to walk around in circles, circles and more circles. at one point of the circling, they are to ascend a few flights of stairs and down again to simulate a nai he qiao. upon reaching the top of the stairs, they have to throw coin(s) into a pail or tub of water. and must save 2 or more coins for themselves at the end of the ceremony.. this is repeated for about 18 circles? or 16? i forgot.. as for the chanting scripture ceremony, family members are given a booklet of scripture. they are to chant along with the taoists. some do not understand it, some could not catch the words, some cannot keep out with the irregular pace of chanting. well, its just to signify that the family members are also involved in blessing the spirit. Ya, and at some parts of the chant, the participants are to kneel down, stand up, kneel down and up again for a number of times.
The organisers of the funeral are to entertain, tell repeated stories to different guest, burn the joss paper at all times when there are no ceremonies. thats the proceedings for the first second third fourth day and night the fourth night, ( the last night) big houses, maids, servants, drivers, cars, passport, toiletries, all nessecities of the living, topped with ingot look alike joss paper (all custom made with paper) are lighted and burned in a big fire. the arsonals are to form a circle, or semi circle, around the burning pile and hit the outside of the circle with rattan sticks, at the same time shouting the name of the person.. i mean, the name of the recieving party. ya, next morning, all are to kneel beside the coffin and .... after some long wait (kneeling down) the coffin is loaded up into the van, participants board the chartered bus, off to the crematorium, again a short ceremony, den they are channeled to a viewing hall to see the coffin moved into the furnace.. (all fully automated and machinelised) this is the part when most people crumble. i heard one of my cousins crying out loud the name of the decease, the name got silenced by her crying.. and ended with a muffled "byebye..." well, thats the end for the non relatives, the relatives and family still has to carry on with more ceremonies more joss sticks and joss paper burning, backed to the void deck they came from, they wash their face with flower water. pack up, clean up. foriegn talents are often employed with the aid of an ang bao to clean up.
ha! done? no! remember the furnace? he/she who signs the death certificate of the decease will have to collect the remains from the incineration. den a few more rituals to settle the ashes, spirit into the new HDB apartments or condo apartments.
not to mention that througout these period of time, there will be little rest for the unwilling organisers.
should i have thought this way? i dunnoe, from this event, it is oso evident that the male plays an important role in chinese culture. as during the ceremony, the eldest son will have to do most of the job. sons are alwayes in front of daugthers. during the crossing of nai he qiao, ladies who are having their menses are forbided to ascend the stairs. so u see, such part of the chinese culture are actually a bagage to the modern society. take the funeral part of the culture for instance, i thk it will phase out in about 2 more genrations.. our chidren's generation. for my case, i thk i wun wan them to organise such events for my afterlife. wad bout u?

ok, for this part, just imagine a pic of a funeral at void deck, taken from a opposite HDB block. here, to aid ur imagination...

yongbin was here with you at 21:28 .