26-MAR-18 Tomb Sweeping

[DiveMilw]

Qingming is quickly approaching.  Hope you've got all your plans in place.  Just kidding.  The Chinese holiday really is coming up (April 5th) but I'm sure most of us don't celebrate it.  My mom's family does and this past Sunday we visited my grandparents graves to make offerings.  We put out a luncheon of Chinese pastries, two types of roast pork, soy sauce chicken, and wine.  We burned joss money (hell notes) and some other joss offerings but I'm not sure what they were.  You can get "things" made of paper but these were papers with symbols for the things they are......or they might have just been decoration.  You can purchase assortments of joss offerings at Chinese markets. We chose to go Sunday mostly because everyone was available then.  Also, it avoided the crowds which will be at the cemetery next week.  The cemetery where my grandparents are buried has a very large Asian section which is nice because it can accommodate the Asian customs.  (We don't leave the food at the grave site.  It gets divided up and enjoyed at home.)  My relatives have this down to a science with a bucket to burn the offerings, a wind proof torch/lighter, a stick to "stir" the paper so it all burns, a gallon milk jug filled with water to thoroughly extinguish the ashes.  There were a few other families at the cemetery also getting a head start on the holiday.  

[MartinG]

Fascinating insight, thanks Tom,

[KathyB]

I am in a bad mood because Ohio State beat the University of Denver in the NCAA men's ice hockey tournament last night. I am trying to soothe my mood by eating Chinese food, and it's helping a little. But there will be no repeat champion in the Frozen Four this year.

[DiveMilw]

What kind of Chinese food are you having, Kathy?  Is it helping?

[KathyB]

Chicken and broccoli. It helped a little. It was delicious.

[Chris L]

Qingming is quickly approaching.  Hope you've got all your plans in place.  Just kidding.  The Chinese holiday really is coming up (April 5th)

They scheduled it for my birthday? Who do I thank for this?