Monday, April 11, 2011

Rituals of Cheng Beng in Penang 2011

This year, we performed Cheng Beng rituals 1st weekend in April. Of course, as usual only my husband and his two sisters and their respective families performed the rites together. The other siblings wanted to do so in their own time..oh well..to each his own. The nite before the family got together with a dinner at a restaurant, where sons, daughters and grandchildren all gather to share experiences over the last time we all met. It was quite fun actually, the family get-together, and yes,,,dear departed father in law picked up the tab! Yes, he left some money, so every year, we use it to pay for the dinner and all the rituals carried out including the paraphernalia we bought to burn at the graveside. yes, guess dear father-in-law wanted to make sure no one squabbled over money.:)

"CHENG BENG (Old Souls day) is the day the Chinese who practise ancestral worship go to the graves or places of remembrance of their departed to clean up and perform rites of respect and offering. Wiki here. In Penang, there are differences in the practices among families, however, essentially, they involve the following:

  • Preparation: This includes the preparation and compilation of food and beverages (an elaborate one would include rice, a set of sam phuay or dishes, koay or local cakes, boiled meat like whole chicken and pork, boiled eggs, fruit, tea, rice wine and things that the departed used to like -- his favourite cigar, for example), and other essentials like kim chua and gin chua (paper gold and silver folded in the shape of bullions) and prayer material like candles and joss sticks.
  • Cleaning up: Ridding the graves of weeds on or before Cheng Beng day is usually done by the relatives or contracted out, for an annual fee, to people who work in the cemetery. These caretakers could also top up the soil to retain the traditional hump of the Chinese grave, even tek chua (see below).
  • Tek chua: At the start of the ritual, while the food and prayer material are being laid out below the tombstone and at the tay choo kong (“spiritual guardian of the land”) mini altar, relatives would put yellow and plain rice paper, weighed down by pebbles, on the graves or plant colourful flags. Tek chua is literally to “place paper securely under a weight”.
  • Puak puay, communication and other rituals: Two coins are used to communicate with the departed. After everything has been laid out, one of the elder relatives would invite the departed to come over. To know if they have arrived, the relatives would toss and read two coins before the gravestone (head and tail means “yes”, head-head and tail-tail mean “no”). Once their presence has been signaled, joss sticks would be lit. The descendants, two hands clasped over the joss sticks before the gravestone, would communicate whatever they like with their ancestors. After that, they would plant the joss sticks into sand-filled containers. A while later, usually when the joss sticks are half burnt, the ancestors would be asked on their progress of the meal -- also using the coins (head and tail means “yes, we are done with the meal”, head-head means “no” and tail-tail means “we are happy”. This happiness or joy would be attributed by the descendants to some recent event or the presence of some people at the ritual. This use of coins to communicate with the departed is called puak puay.
  • After the meal is over, the kim chua and gin chua would be set on fire and sent to the heavens for the ancestors. The pineapple, symbolising luck (in Hokkien, the pineapple is called ong lai – “ong” means luck, “lai” means come), is then cut into three pieces. The “head” is placed on the tombstone. The “stump” is placed at the other end of the grave. Finally, the skin is shaved off over the grave. The remaining juicy flesh is taken home to be eaten by the family.After the ceremony, the relatives would split up the food, pack up and go for a meal together before going their separate ways".
  • www.igeorgetownpenang.com/.../194-rituals-of-cheng-beng -
Indeed, for us...we had a good lunch before we went back to our respective homes..for us..it was a long journey back to Kl as traffic was heavy...still it's a ritual we carry out each year out of respect for our departed in-laws. Yes, though we are Catholics, we still make sure we and our children respect our ancestors.

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