Honoring the ancestors:
Yesterday we rode our bikes to a village outside of town... where Jenny's mother, grandmother and great grandmother were born, grew-up and lived. We went to honor her grandfather who died seven years ago and to eat with the family.
in a wheat field beyond the village walls, under the pulsating power lines and in between two rows of parallel saplings a mound of dirt separates her grandfather from this world and this life. with a stick, the eldest daughter draws a circle around the grave through the wheat. the women place fruit: bananas, pineapple and mandarins, bread: cakes, cookies, and muffins on the mound. this is meant to feed the dead during the after life. on a large white paper they spread in the circle they pile money. There is an entire industry of honoring the dead. on every corner and at several stands in between you can buy fake money, photocopies of the real thing, crepe paper and all sorts of decorations. The "Money" is piled on the paper in the circle drawn in the wheat field by the eldest daughter. while the son and the nephew and the grandson shovel dirt on top of the mound the women light the paper and burn the money... they burn the money so that it reaches the dead so he can spend it in the after life. The fire blazes and flickers and licks at the living. Dirt is piled atop the mound. the grave is decorated with sticks, sparkling paper and shredded yellow paper. this is done every spring as summer is coming soon and this is meant to be a tree to shade the dead from the coming heat of summer. while the ashes smolder the food is broken into bite size pieces and scattered over the mound. The women finish with the arrangements here while the men move on to tend to the grave of grandfather's mother.
Jenny asks me about how we honor the dead in America... and i am left feeling lonely and a bit empty... because after the funeral there is no regular or formal process... at least in my family.
This family does this mourning and honoring of the dead several times throughout the year every year... during the Spring Festival in February, in April, and on Autumn Day. There is at least one more day, but Jenny can't remember when that is.
as i walked away from her grandfathers tomb, i honored my grandfather too who died just over two years ago. I burned money for him, in my mind and left food for him to eat. I said a prayer for him and i remembered him. I walked away from that tomb and honored my ancestors.
Yesterday we rode our bikes to a village outside of town... where Jenny's mother, grandmother and great grandmother were born, grew-up and lived. We went to honor her grandfather who died seven years ago and to eat with the family.
in a wheat field beyond the village walls, under the pulsating power lines and in between two rows of parallel saplings a mound of dirt separates her grandfather from this world and this life. with a stick, the eldest daughter draws a circle around the grave through the wheat. the women place fruit: bananas, pineapple and mandarins, bread: cakes, cookies, and muffins on the mound. this is meant to feed the dead during the after life. on a large white paper they spread in the circle they pile money. There is an entire industry of honoring the dead. on every corner and at several stands in between you can buy fake money, photocopies of the real thing, crepe paper and all sorts of decorations. The "Money" is piled on the paper in the circle drawn in the wheat field by the eldest daughter. while the son and the nephew and the grandson shovel dirt on top of the mound the women light the paper and burn the money... they burn the money so that it reaches the dead so he can spend it in the after life. The fire blazes and flickers and licks at the living. Dirt is piled atop the mound. the grave is decorated with sticks, sparkling paper and shredded yellow paper. this is done every spring as summer is coming soon and this is meant to be a tree to shade the dead from the coming heat of summer. while the ashes smolder the food is broken into bite size pieces and scattered over the mound. The women finish with the arrangements here while the men move on to tend to the grave of grandfather's mother.
Jenny asks me about how we honor the dead in America... and i am left feeling lonely and a bit empty... because after the funeral there is no regular or formal process... at least in my family.
This family does this mourning and honoring of the dead several times throughout the year every year... during the Spring Festival in February, in April, and on Autumn Day. There is at least one more day, but Jenny can't remember when that is.
as i walked away from her grandfathers tomb, i honored my grandfather too who died just over two years ago. I burned money for him, in my mind and left food for him to eat. I said a prayer for him and i remembered him. I walked away from that tomb and honored my ancestors.
1 comment:
I like that. It speaks to the deeper need for rituals in our lives. Something I am learning to create...
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