Annual Qing Ming tomb sweeping festival at a Ipoh cemetery.
In the old days I and my two brothers used to take turns to help touch up the tombstone inscriptions with new paint. Nowadays we oldies let the youngsters handle this part of the work.
Compared to last year this time I saw fewer devotees and vehicles in the cemetery. Perhaps many had already paid their respects to their ancestors last week.
Helen who married David in 2013, and now a member of the Ng family came to pay her respect at the family ancestral tombs for the first time.
This is also the first time that I and Anna drove our car from KL to Ipoh instead of going with Tuck Hong in his car. Tuck Hong suggested that we use our car as his was under repairs in a workshop following an auto accident.
Listening to a radio talk show.
One listener who questioned the purpose of Qing Ming claimed that most people who pray to their deceased parents on Qing Ming day were just putting on a show of filial piety to make up for their mistreatment of their parents when they were alive.
On the other hand I feel that the majority of the people who observe the annual Qing Ming festival do treat their parents well when they were alive and remembering them on Qing Ming day are their way of showing deep respect and gratitude to the unconditional love and guidance that they had received from their parents through the years.
Every time when I visit my deceased parents' tomb on Qing Ming day I have this sense that I am reconnecting with them in spirit though they are no longer in this world.
