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清明節 Qing Ming Day (Sepia)
2008.03.26
On the way to my great grandmother's tomb
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On the way to my great grandmother's tomb
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The scene at the cemetery
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The scene at the cemetery
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Clearing off the grass
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Clearing off the grass
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My aunt lighting up the candles and joss sticks
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My aunt lighting up the candles and joss sticks
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Placing colored papers on the tomb
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Placing colored papers on the tomb
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Ashes in the air
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Ashes in the air
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Praying
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Praying
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It takes time...
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It takes time...
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Dividing the joss sticks
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Dividing the joss sticks
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Burning the paper money for the departed
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Burning the paper money for the departed
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Finished at this point
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Finished at this point
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Heading to my grandfather's tomb
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Heading to my grandfather's tomb
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The tomb is located at the end, as my father's family was so poor before
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The tomb is located at the end, as my father's family was so poor before
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Chopping off the branches
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Chopping off the branches
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Another set of colored papers
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Another set of colored papers
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My aunt prays first
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My aunt prays first
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The praying items
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The praying items
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Burning the joss
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Burning the joss
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Opening
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Opening
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Placing the joss sticks
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Placing the joss sticks
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Time to leave, till next year
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Time to leave, till next year
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For your information:
Tomb Sweeping Day and Clear Brightness Festival are the most common English translations of Qingming Festival. For the Chinese, it is a day to remember and honour one's ancestors at grave sites. Young and old pray before the ancestors, sweep the tombs and offer food, tea, wine, chopsticks, (joss) paper accessories, and/or libation to the ancestors. The rites are very important to most Chinese and especially farmers. Some people carry willow branches with them on Qingming, or put willow branches on their gates and/or front doors. They think that willow branches help ward off the evil ghosts that wander on Qingming. Also on Qingming, people go on family outings, start the spring plowing, sing, dance, and Qingming is a time where young couples start courting. Another popular thing to do is fly kites (in shapes of animals, or characters from Chinese opera).
From en.wikipedia.org
Our family went to the cemetery earlier before the actual day of Qing Ming. The reason is to avoid the pack crowd during the season. I think it's been 1-2 years I didn't join as I'm not around at hometown, so this time I just happened to be around to join my family to pray before our ancestors. But this time just the three of us; me, my father and my aunt. The previous years my cousin, my uncles used to join but this year they weren't around because they're working overseas. My grandmother is getting older so she just stayed at home.
So overall in this post I just want to show what we are doing on the day of Qing Ming. The pictures have been converted to sepia tone to provide some mood and feeling into them.
Happy viewing!
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Comments
Lovely shots, the mood is conveyed really well. Nice work.
