Chung Yeung Festival

I’ve been getting more acquainted with my Chinese heritage lately. At first I wasn’t really sure what I was expected to do but you soon learn through the family grapevine. There are two occasions each year that are observed to pay our respects to our ancestors. Ching Ming or Tomb Sweeping Day, is around April and is as you would expect, a day for spring cleaning your ancestors tomb.

Today is Chung Yeung, the ninth day of the ninth month in the Lunar calendar. A festival and public holiday in Chinese culture when we take the time to visit the ancestral tombs and temples or cemetery. We bring fruit, meat and wine. We burn candles and incense and offerings that will go to the afterlife to be received by those in our family line who are no longer with us.  And in doing so, we are saying ‘we remember you.’  There is a real sense of family and community as we go about this and often you don’t just take care of your immediate family but your extended too.

Until now when I have had to take on some of the responsibility myself, I barely paid much attention to these two festivals. I’m learning as you go along I guess you’d call it. And when you don’t fully understand why you’re doing something, it’s easy to start thinking perhaps you can cut corners a bit. Does it matter that we don’t have apples if we have oranges? Can we have roast chicken instead of roast pork because you can only get that in Chinatown?

The answer is yes, you probably could cut corners but then you remember why you’re doing this.  You remember they liked roast pork best of all and drank Chinese tea instead of wine and liked Rich Tea biscuits. And so this festival becomes something much more than just custom and tradition. It is our way of showing love for those we no longer have close by.

I don’t cut corners for Chinese New Year and Mid Autumn Festival because I know the folklore and customs behind it. And the same with this festival, I will observe it as best I can.

I remember years ago a conversation with my Dad, Mr Li about Chung Yeung and he was saying that my Por Por would have nothing that year because for some reason no offerings were being burnt. The conversation went something like this:

“Your Por Por will have no new clothes this year, no money to buy anything, no food even. Actually she could probably ask some of your other ancestors for some food but you can’t exactly ask them for money to go and buy new clothes. She’s just going to have to end up in rags for this year and we’ll have to send her much more next year.”

And with these words in mind, I hope they’re all enjoying a big feast and shopping spree.