Today, we are going to take a look at Chinese Funeral mourning clothing from the past, which is dangerously disappearing fast. These photos were shared with me by my uncle, which took place in 1989 during my grandfather’s funeral.
What to prepare for the Return of the Soul Night Day 7
Two years ago, I wrote an article on Day 7 The Return of The Dead Night, and only briefly wrote about the dos and don’ts of the night. After watching the collaboration between the Hellbank YouTube channel with Affinity Funeral Service’s video, it prompted me to do some research through my relatives and friends in Singapore on what to prepare for the Return of the Soul night.
Just a word of warning, this does not apply to all Chinese people or religions, it is mostly what Chinese people believe in Singapore. It is mainly Chinese superstitions or customs that have been passed down the generations, you can choose to believe it or not.
Cremation: The Last Journey of Bone Picking
In my previous post, I mentioned about exhuming my grandfather and the contractors would then take his cleaned remains to the crematorium to get cremated. Do you know what usually happens next? This is solely based on my uncle and friend’s experiences. This is part of their Chinese ritual after cremation. It is solely for your reference. This procedure of bone picking does not apply to everyone around the world or for any other religions. Furthermore, each religion and country has their own rituals after cremation.
Exhuming Your Loved Ones: Family Views
This year Qing Ming Festival/Tomb Sweeping fell on the 4th April 2024. It saddens me that yet again, I have not been able to pay my respects to my dad and my grandparents on this festival. There are a couple of reasons for this: my family are in Singapore so it takes some preparation to plan a long haul trip from Britain. Also, it is not easy to fly over due to school term and travel costs.
Day 7 The Return of the Dead Night
Do you believe that the soul of a dead person will return to visit his/her family home on the seventh day after their death? Some Chinese believe this is what we call 回魂夜 (Huí Hún Yè) – the return of the dead’s night or 头七 (Tóu Qī).
The Vanishing Trade – Yeo Swee Huat Paper Agency Exhibition
During my visit to Haw Par Villa in August this year, one of the free exhibitions was the Yeo Swee Huat Paper Agency, which runs until the end of December 2022. It is located at the Cloud Pavilion that is next to the Culture Courtyard. It is an exhibition on the vanishing paper offerings trade which is typically used for temple festivities and funeral offerings.
The Traditional Chinese Grave
A few months ago, I blogged about my Singapore trip to Haw Par Villa Hell’s museum and the 10 courts of Hell. One of the highlights of this trip was also learning about our dying cultural heritage: The Traditional Chinese Grave. This made me research Chinese tombstones and my uncle managed to provide me with my maternal grandfather’s tombstone photo, which is no longer around. They had exhumed his tomb and placed him along with my grandmother at Toa Payoh Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery in 2013. I will tell you more about why we needed to exhume him in a minute.
5 Tips to writing a memorable eulogy
Losing a loved one is one of the most difficult ordeals that people go through. There are lots of things that can be said about the departed relative. There may be some negative attributes of the departed person that remain in the memory of the family members. Well, when it comes to writing and even reading the eulogy of the departed person, a lot of things need to be considered. It is for this reason that one needs to learn how to write a eulogy or hire a professional eulogy writer to do the work for you. All in all, when a eulogy is finally written, we need to consider the feelings of the family members and incorporate these into the eulogy.
Tips To Approach Children about Death
When your loved one dies, it can get very overwhelming and terrifying at the same time, especially if it is your first experience of it! The worst of it is how are you going to break the news to your child or any little ones without traumatising them.
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