Raindrops fell incessantly tonight. When will the clouds clear?
On a brighter note, today's APRIL FOOL's day cuM QingMing Festival!
Let's talk about April Fool's first~ I think we have all (okay, near all! haha) out-grown playing tricks of any sort on this very day. Still remember those times in TK where we even went to the extent of tricking teachers! Gosh were they fun! Of course, it's not solely just for the laughs. The ultimate enjoyment was having the control of reducing lesson-times! Haha. Boy were those kids a terrible bunch. (Wahaha, machiam I'm not included like that.)
Moving on to QingMing Festival. For the Chinese, it is a day to remember and honour our ancestors. andit's a day whereby we pay our respects and present offerings to our ancestors. I was reminded to sleep early the night b4, so as to be able to wake up on time today. But, laughs, 4am considered early?
My mum specifically told me the night b4 that we will be leaving house at 8 something am the next morning. In the morning, I woke up in shock to realize that it was already 8.45am! I grabbed my Hp (which will always be by my side when I sleep) and called my Dad. And where was he? At home! My mum bluffed me on purpose lah, thinking that would make me sleep earlier. Hohoho.
But whatever the case, I woke up in time! We headed to 万佛林 together (My eldest uncle & aunt, cousin, grandmother, my parents and myself) to pray and present our offerings before our great grandparents. Boy was the temple already crowded by the time we reached at approx. 10am.
I am not one who is familiar with the traditional chinese customs (as I am not exposed to it much since young). For. e.g. the sequencing, do we pray facing the temple first? Or do we pray back-facing the temple first? My dad told me that the precedence of which does not matter as long as you have the heart. He did tell me the correct sequence though, it's 天，followed by 地，and lastly, 人。Bearing in mind "天，地，人", I definitely will not go wrong.
My dad is not one who is very rigid and strict about chinese customs. Even for religion-wise, he gives us total freedom of choice in it. My parents never enforced that we have to go pay our respects every QingMing. They will let us know when the day comes near. They do make a point to go every year, but if we (my brother and I) were asleep or whatsoever, they just go ahead. So, honestly speaking, today is only my third time visiting the temple during QingMing. However, my eldest uncle is quite different from my dad in this aspect. He is very religiously-involved, and treats this day as a very important one.
So, this year my mum asked me to go too as my uncle's in town. I guess no matter what religion you are, even if it's no religion (free-thinker like mua)...we will still feel the need to pay our respects to our ancestors on this very day. Well, just thinking a little more on this day as it is a little different from the previous years. After paying our respects, we went back to my uncle's place (very near my place) to burn the offerings which we presented earlier on, e.g. clothes, money etc. I mastered the technique of twisting a stack of money, whereby it flows very smoothly in a circle! hoho, so proud of myself! Not easy hor! =P
p.s. Ping, won't forget the promise I made tonight~ =) Hugs!
Saturday, April 01, 2006
When will the clouds clear?
On a brighter note, today's APRIL FOOL's day cuM QingMing Festival!
Let's talk about April Fool's first~
I think we have all (okay, near all! haha) out-grown playing tricks of any sort on this very day. Still remember those times in TK where we even went to the extent of tricking teachers! Gosh were they fun! Of course, it's not solely just for the laughs. The ultimate enjoyment was having the control of reducing lesson-times! Haha. Boy were those kids a terrible bunch. (Wahaha, machiam I'm not included like that.)
Moving on to QingMing Festival.
For the Chinese, it is a day to remember and honour our ancestors.
and it's a day whereby we pay our respects and present offerings to our ancestors. I was reminded to sleep early the night b4, so as to be able to wake up on time today. But, laughs, 4am considered early?
My mum specifically told me the night b4 that we will be leaving house at 8 something am the next morning. In the morning, I woke up in shock to realize that it was already 8.45am! I grabbed my Hp (which will always be by my side when I sleep) and called my Dad. And where was he? At home! My mum bluffed me on purpose lah, thinking that would make me sleep earlier. Hohoho.
But whatever the case, I woke up in time! We headed to 万佛林 together (My eldest uncle & aunt, cousin, grandmother, my parents and myself) to pray and present our offerings before our great grandparents. Boy was the temple already crowded by the time we reached at approx. 10am.
I am not one who is familiar with the traditional chinese customs (as I am not exposed to it much since young). For. e.g. the sequencing, do we pray facing the temple first? Or do we pray back-facing the temple first? My dad told me that the precedence of which does not matter as long as you have the heart. He did tell me the correct sequence though, it's 天，followed by 地，and lastly, 人。Bearing in mind "天，地，人", I definitely will not go wrong.
My dad is not one who is very rigid and strict about chinese customs. Even for religion-wise, he gives us total freedom of choice in it. My parents never enforced that we have to go pay our respects every QingMing. They will let us know when the day comes near. They do make a point to go every year, but if we (my brother and I) were asleep or whatsoever, they just go ahead. So, honestly speaking, today is only my third time visiting the temple during QingMing. However, my eldest uncle is quite different from my dad in this aspect. He is very religiously-involved, and treats this day as a very important one.
So, this year my mum asked me to go too as my uncle's in town. I guess no matter what religion you are, even if it's no religion (free-thinker like mua)...we will still feel the need to pay our respects to our ancestors on this very day. Well, just thinking a little more on this day as it is a little different from the previous years. After paying our respects, we went back to my uncle's place (very near my place) to burn the offerings which we presented earlier on, e.g. clothes, money etc. I mastered the technique of twisting a stack of money, whereby it flows very smoothly in a circle! hoho, so proud of myself! Not easy hor! =P
p.s. Ping, won't forget the promise I made tonight~ =) Hugs!
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