It was Cass’ maiden participation in Qing Ming this year. Her sisters had partaken twice in the past. She was very curious to visit the graveyard and pestered me to bring her to the graveyard. Actually I did not intend to bring her along this year but with her persistence, I caved in. So on Sunday, 30th March, a day after my birthday celebration in Ipoh, we woke up very early to visit the graveyards in Tambun. And Cass was so excited that she woke up first and then jolted me and her sisters up from our beauty sleep, just so she could go to the graveyard, HA HA HA!
So here they are at the first graveyard, which was the tomb of hubster’s great grandparents and the girls’ great great grandparents. The girls’ two little uncles from London were back to partake in this year’s Tombsweeping Day as well and they were equally excited!
Cass and her little uncle, who is the same age as her were happily counting ‘MONEY” and distributing them into several bundles before burning them. The kids loved the burning part. It was a chance of their lifetime to be able to burn papers and joss sticks without getting chided for.
After visiting 3 tombs in 3 hours under the scorching hot sun, we were all sweating profusely, flushed and dying to drink water. At the graveyard, we kept water drinking to the minimum, to prevent the urge to pee.  When I asked Cass if she would like to do this again next year, her answer was “no”. I knew it. But their daddy being the filial son, grandson and great grandson will assuredly drag the girls along again next year, without any doubt.
What about you? Did you fulfill your duty of sweeping the tombs this year to pay respect to your loved ones in the afterworld?
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I have yet to bring my kids for tomb sweeping. It’s an experience I would like them to have. Soon, we might not be able to fly back during CNY, so most likely would be sometime around Qing Ming time.