my lil'Chomel

Last time, it used to be one of the "happening" session in my grandma's family other than CNY. Everyone (4 to 5 of my mom's siblings and their children) will start packing food and make our way to my grandpa's tomb at 6am. It was not that early when we were very little (cos the parents have to get the small kids up and get them ready). But as we grow older, my uncles decided to do it earlier so that we dun bask ourselves in the sun for too long and we get to go home earlier. Either way, we kids dun really mind cos its kinda like an adventure for us. Sometimes, I'll be the last to arrive and everyone will comment, "The princess is here!". Hahaha. Cos I'm have difficulty waking up so early in the morning, what to do....

Some of the tasks we do there: clear the tomb area, chop some trees, sweep the tomb area and lay out the food that everyone has prepared. We kids? Put coloured papers and joss sticks on the soil part of the tomb. Play around. Oh ya, we get scolded a lot for going on-top of the tomb. It either "Don't sit on grandpa's head, or don't step on grandpa's tummy". Graveyard tracking a bit trying to locate great-grand-parents tomb. After paying our respects and grandpa had finished "eating" the offerings; they will start burning the offerings. Dunno why, but we tend to burn a lot of stuffs. Like a bon-fire. By then, sun is up and it's getting hot. We get to eat the "offered" food. Another highlight of the whole thing.

It's not that scary really. Cos there are hundreds of people doing the same thing! Seriously, it's very festive come to think of it.

Miss those old times. Now, we have a quiet small prayer. Not sure if my kids and my bro's kids could experience this but this culture should not just be a memory.

Oh ya, in between, people will be asking for 4 digit numbers from grandpa. Hahahaha. Wonder who will strike this year.