Offering their best: Families burning offerings for their dearly departed at the Paya Terubong columbarium in Penang. — LIM BENG TATT/The Star
GEORGE TOWN: Thousands of families converged at cemeteries and columbariums throughout Penang to pay their respects to their deceased loved ones yesterday, the actual day for Qing Ming, or Chinese All-Souls Day.
Chef Chong Yee Soon, 30, said he and his cousin took the day off to accompany his mother and two aunts to the columbarium of his grandfather who passed away three years ago at the age of 71.
“We brought his favourite food such as roast chicken, chicken curry, stir-fried vegetables, rice and nyonya kuih for prayers at his niche in the morning to avoid the relentless heatwave.
“According to Chinese belief, we are supposed to pray to our dearly departed on Qing Ming for the first three years after their passing,” he said when met at the Paya Terubong columbarium yesterday.
At the Than Hsiang Temple in Bayan Baru, housewife Pauline Ooi, 59, and several of her relatives presented vegetarian offerings to her departed mother and mother-in-law.
“My mother succumbed to a heart attack almost five years ago while my mother-in-law passed away only a few months back after a long illness.
“Other than the vegetable offerings, I also left a bouquet of flowers and a cup of kopi-o for my mother who was 84 when she passed away,” she said, adding that kopi-o was her mother’s favourite drink.
A staff member of Than Hsiang Temple said that an increasing number of individuals were purchasing pre-packaged vegetarian meals from the temple for their deceased loved ones.
“As people become busier, they increasingly seek time-saving options to prepare food. We are not profiting from these sales but providing convenience to those observing the occasion.”Qing Ming, which is also called the Tomb Sweeping Festival, is a Chinese tradition that is observed 10 days before or after the actual day.
Ooi said the reason that Qing Ming rituals are carried out 10 days before or after the actual date is to accommodate the different schedules of siblings and relatives.
