Remembering Our Loved Ones

During this month (Chinese Lunar calendar months - end of 2nd month) it is customary for us to visit the graves of our loved ones. The actual day falls on 4th April this year and is known as "Cheng Beng"locally referred to as "tomb sweeping day". As some of us (ie those who are not Christians) are busy working they can visit the graves any day between 10 days before or after the actual day. Usually they will do so on weekends or on their "off" day. When they visit the graves they usually weed the grass on the tombs and sweep away the dead leaves from trees nearby. If there were farmers living near by they would help them clean the graves before they came to visit, for a one time fee of course. The graves could be maintained through out the year at a higher annual fee. As the economy got better these tomb cleaners became rare because the service charge is not attractive any more. I used to visit my grandma's grave in my younger days and I had to clear the weeds which were overgrown. The burial ground was not maintained by any one and before my last visit there someone chopped down a tree which fell over my grandma's grave.The tree trunk was quite big and and I could not do anything about it. So I had to abandon it. I have not visited the place again as I was getting old and going up the hilly slope is a task. I do not know what has happened to the place. When my grand father died later we cremated his body and kept the remains in an urn which is placed in the crematorium. This custom has changed during the last two decades. My grandma was buried before that on a hill side allocated by the government as burial ground. There were many lots used as burial ground but as time goes on availablity of vacant land became scarce and a few of the burial grounds were converted to housing estates. The graves were exhumed and the remains cremated. Chinese religious authorities in Singapore encourage and promote the cremation of the dead. Crematoriums were built both by the government and the religious bodies. The remains were kept in urns which are kept in public crematoriums, temples or churches.
To-day I visited my grand father's resting place. To save space the temple re-built the crematorium and kept the urns in "blocks of flats" (13 storeys high).They look like letter boxes and the blocks look like our flats. All these new ideas save a lot of land.Two days ago it was reported that in some countries the rich are having electronic devices built at the tomb so that they can watch the loved ones' video messages which were probably pre-recorded. The main thing I feel is that this is the time when we remember our dear departed ones and what they have done for us. It doesn't matter how we remember them -it is the thought that counts.
posted by tctan --- http://itsmyfranchise.com/tiatan787/