Happy Qing Ming Day

It was a quiet long weekend with only the sound of money being burned in the streets. As I wandered each evening, I came across small fires burning on just about every street. On one small block , I counted 14 fires. It was quite windy, so the flaming embers were blowing every where. It was a very surreal atmosphere. And thus began my introduction to the Qing Ming festival. Qing Ming is a time for the Chinese to honour their ancestors and departed loved ones. Tombs and grave sites are cleaned and offerings of tea, flowers, food, wine, joss paper accessories and perhaps a small libation are left on the tomb for the enjoyment of their ancestors. Starting early in the week, market stalls opened up on every block selling all the necessary items for a successful Qing Ming. The colourful packages contain stacks of joss or rice paper and bricks of paper money wrapped in red or gold foil.

One of the rites of Qing Ming involves the burning of offerings. The traditional belief of the Chinese is "when someone dies, their spirit goes to the afterlife or Hell". Hell in their sense is not like our Hell, it is a kinder, gentler place. Here the spirit lives on doing much the same things as they did in life. But, to do this the spirits still need money. Wait a minute, maybe it is like our Hell. Those surviving want to assure that their ancestors have a comfortable after life so they burn different offerings including cash. The money is actually play notes and are called "Hell Money". The notes are quite colourful imprinted with lotus flowers, thistles, dragons, and pots of gold. They also burn facsimiles of cars, houses, watches and even cell phones. It seemed to me that the joss or rice paper was the most popular for burning.

The ceremony begins by laying the offering down on the street or sidewalk. Many of the celebrants carried a stick or branch. The branches may have been willow as the Chinese believe that willow branches can help ward off evil ghosts that wander about on Qing Ming. They take the branch and draw a circle several times around the offering, then set it on fire. There were many different styles. Some lit the entire offering at once, while others slowly fed small portions into the fire. All this was done in silence. As I walked around, I had to be careful where I stepped as there were literally dozens of small ash piles littering the streets from previous ceremonies. I returned early the next morning to get a picture but too late, they were gone. Judging by the numbers of fires I saw over the three or four days, the GDP of Hell will not be experiencing a "financial crisis".

My baby is back safely in the fold. More in the next blog.