A different Qing Ming festival 2020

Around this time of the year, it is normal to see the roads around Chinese cemeteries all over the nation, chock-a-bloc with vehicles as families carry out their annual obligation in the Qing Ming festival.

Remembering past Qing Ming on 4 April 1999
at grandfather's tomb in Johor Jaya, Johor Baru

During this season – especially on weekends – the cemeteries would be crawling with people, busy with the tomb-sweeping rituals, burning joss sticks, joss paper and other materials which they believe, would be sent to their ancestors.

For Chinese families who practice a tradition of ancestor worship, the Qing Ming festival is the most important festival of the dead where the family would go to the cemetery to perform tomb-sweeping rituals and make offerings and prayers to their ancestors.

The Chinese do not neglect the Qing Ming observance because they wish to continue to honour and respect their elders and ancestors even though they have moved into the spirit world.

At the Cantonese great-grandmother's tomb; April 1970

As their forefathers were being honoured at Qing Ming, the Chinese believe that their future generations will be blessed. This is a universal conviction held by many cultures in the world and one that Malaysians can easily identify with. 

Called Ching Ming, Cheng Beng or Qing Ming, this month-long celebration on the lunar calendar is clearly distinguished from the second important festival of the dead, the Festival of the Hungry Ghosts.

This festival will be celebrated on the seventh month of the lunar calendar when the Gates of Hell are open for ghosts to roam the earth to be fed and entertained.

In the Ng family, the responsibility of organising the family’s annual Qing Ming was passed down from generations to our late grandmother and she was meticulous in planning and organising the arrangements for the rituals.

At the Teochew great-grandmother's tomb

Grandmother would consult her almanac for an auspicious day and a date would be fixed, usually on a weekend in early April, for the convenience of working members of the family.

Days ahead of that chosen date, grandmother would buy loads of joss paper and joss sticks and these would be allocated to departed members of the family with each portion labelled in a separate rattan basket.

Then she would rope in all the willing hands to help her fold the joss paper into rolls of paper with turned-up ends that resembled traditional ingots of gold. 

There were also stacks of tissue-light sheets of single-colour paper in multi colours that were similarly rolled. I later learnt that these represented sheets of fabric. 

Grandmother arranging the food offering carried to
the cemetery using her rattan baskets

Grandma would then arrange food including steamed pau dumplings, roast pork, homemade whole boiled chicken and braised duck along with the sacks of the paper gold ingots, coloured rolls of fabric, Hell Bank notes, joss paper and bunches of fresh flowers for each ancestor. 

As a child, I saw this as a fun family outing where the baskets and joss materials were lugged out to the various tombs located in different cemeteries in Johor Baru. 

When I was old enough to join the family for Qing Ming, I remember waking up in the morning and not asked to change out of my pyjamas. 

In normal practice, we were not encouraged to lounge around in pyjamas but only on that day, the children were permitted to go out in pyjamas.

Later I understood why.  

It was not part of any tradition, but the long trousers of our pyjama pants were comfortable and helpful in protecting our little legs from mosquitoes and other creepy crawlies in the long grass that had overgrown around the cemetery!

Grandmother [wearing shades!] with our cousins at Qing Ming

In those days, cemeteries were not as properly managed as they are now, where gardening teams would maintain the foliage around the tombs, of course, for a fee! 

I observed that one of the rituals of grave site ancestor worship is the lighting up of joss sticks and then taking turns to kowtow before the ancestor’s tomb, starting in the order of seniority within the family. 

Then the paper items would be burnt because the Chinese believe that the money and material items will be received by their ancestors in the netherworld to make them more comfortable. 

I observed that in addition to Hell Bank notes, paper coins and paper gold ingots, a mansion with a male and female servant, and a car with chauffeur, many families also send their ancestors gifts in paper replicas of a wide range of luxury items that they enjoyed during their lifetime.

Straw hats and umbrellas to shade from the scorching sun

Over the years, these items have progressed from smart shirts to sexy lingerie, make-up sets, mobile phones, flatscreen televisions, DVD players complete with discs, computers, bicycles and more recently, laptops, smartphones and tablets.

[I must confess that I was rather amused by the number of zeros printed on the Hell Bank notes…] 

After the rituals at each tomb, the pau, fruits and drinks would be distributed and eaten by the family at the site.

This was very interesting because I just discovered that this activity portrayed a form of a reunion meal with their ancestors! 

Meanwhile the meat items would be brought back to grandfather’s house and enjoyed in a big family feast with other freshly cooked dishes and grandmother’s delicious slow-boiled soup. 

A sample of paper shirt among the joss
items to burn and send to ancestors

This was another family reunion where we had the opportunity to meet with our relatives again and bond over a sumptuous homecooked meal.

As in the traditional Chinese New Year reunion dinner, grandmother’s daughters-in-law would lend a hand to chop the whole chickens and pluck vegetables for her to stir-fry.

After this feast – usually a late lunch – grandmother would then clean the rattan baskets and straw hats used for this annual outing and pack them away in the storeroom, only to take them out again for the festival in the following year.

However, with the current Movement Control Order (MCO) in place, there will not be any Qing Ming outings to the cemeteries in 2020.

For the first time in generations of Chinese families who practice Qing Ming, this year’s festival will have a different and simplified format.

After all, the shops which stock the range of joss materials are closed so families have been advised to carry out their rituals from home only with food and prayer offerings.

They would make the best of the situation and perform their Qing Ming obligations after the MCO was lifted or during the Festival of the Hungry Ghosts.

A mound of Hell Bank Notes and joss paper ready
to be burnt to send to Hungry Ghosts and ancestors

Some Chinese believe the dead will return to visit the living during the Feast of the Hungry Ghosts, celebrated on the 15th day of the seventh month, so they also celebrate this to pay tribute to their dearly departed. 

The Hungry Ghost Festival is derived from a combination of beliefs in Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian and traditional religious teachings.

Usually the Cantonese will offer prayers to the ghosts on the eve of the actual date while the Teochew and Hokkien celebrate on the night of the festival.

I remember observing grandmother when she prepared food, stacks of Hell Bank Notes, paper coins, paper gold ingots and other joss paper, that were burnt in a bonfire on that grassy patch of land adjacent to No. 154 Jalan Ngee Heng.

At twilight she would arrange in a semi-circle, bunches of three joss sticks stuck into the ground at short distances apart, to carry out her rituals and offerings to the famished wandering spirits.

To me, it was just interesting to observe another of grandmother’s annual ritual performances. But now I can tell the difference between the two Chinese festivals of the dead – Qing Ming and the Festival of the Hungry Ghosts.

In Malaysia, the Hungry Ghost Festival is a colourful celebration with communal gatherings, generous offerings of food, joss items and live musical shows staged in neighbourhoods and temples to “entertain” the wandering ghosts. 

Prayers and food are offered outdoors to all spirits, especially for the departed who have no kinfolk to care for them. 

It is believed that if these lonesome spirits were not appeased, they would be restless and cause mischief among the living.

Close-up view of a Hell Bank Note

Unlike the Halloween celebration in America where people have fun dressing up as horror characters, the lunar seventh month is a spooky time when the Chinese will do everything to avoid ghoulish encounters. 

They will take extra care not to offend denizens from the netherworld and normal activities such as travel, marriage, picnics, house moving and even surgery were postponed.

A week before the main date for the festival, there will be entertainment shows for the ghosts and the living that range from traditional Chinese opera, puppet shows, popular songs, karaoke sessions and dance performances. 

Modern music shows, known as ger tai (Mandarin) usually feature talented local singers who play the circuit of stage performances in various venues in the city. 

These ger tai artistes are a special genre of performers in the Chinese community and popular artistes often rush from one venue to another in a hectic schedule on a single night to entertain during this important festive season.

The Chinese believe that the opening night of festival operas are meant for audiences from the netherworld and ‘spiritually-weak’ people are warned against watching the shows, lest they are ‘disturbed’ by the spirits. 

If you do attend any of these performances, you will notice that the front row seats are always left vacant while the audience will sit from the second row onwards or they may just stand around. 

Even if those empty seats tempt you to rest your tired, aching legs, here’s a friendly tip: Never sit in the front seats as these are reserved for the ghosts!

At the close of the seventh month, the comfortably satisfied ghosts will return to their abode and the gates of hell will be shut until next year’s month of freedom.  

For now, it’s not about hungry ghosts or family traditions but we are battling an unseen enemy. And even after the MCO was lifted, I wonder if life will ever be the same again.