04.12.07

Boom! Sweep the Tomb

Posted in Festivals and Celebrations, Local Customs at 10:00 am by Benjamin Ross

This past week was Chinese Qing Ming Jie which in English is referred to as “Tomb Sweeping Day.” The Chinese have always placed much emphasis on honoring their ancestors, and Qing Ming Jie is when people visit their ancestors tombs and tidy them up.

Melody’s great-grandfather’s tomb is barely recognizable before our “sweeping” begins.

These days in China, burying your dead is illegal. When you already have 1.3 billion people, and land is in high demand, devoting a small plot to land to each recently deceased member of the population is highly unpractical. Therefore, most bodies these days are cremated after the funeral.

Before these laws went into effect, dead people were buried in large, round, cement tombs. This still happens today, illegally, but not to the extent as it was in the past. According to Chinese tradition, to ensure a proper afterlife, the tomb must be placed in a proper location, and facing a proper direction. This typically requires a feng shui consultation, which usually produces a location on the side of a mountain, in an otherwise difficult to reach location.

This year for Qing Ming Jie, I went with Melody to her home village of Gaiyang.

Gaiyang is about an hour away from Mingxi (the nearest small town) which is about an hour away from Sanming (the nearest city), located in Western Fujian. Along with her dad, her aunt, her grandpa, and her dad’s cousin, we rented a jeep, and drove from Mingxi (where we were staying) to Gaiyang. After driving 15 minutes outside of Gaiyang on a dirt road, our jeep stopped where a small barely visible path had been worn in the brush. We jumped a small creek, and headed up the mountain. After walking up about 100 meters on a path which didn’t really exist we reached a clearing where a large dirt mound encircled a small brick wall beneath it. It was the tomb of Melody’s great-grandfather who had died when she was 8 years old.

Melody’s dad’s cousin begins the weed clearing.

The site of the tomb made me realize why there is a special day in China for tomb maintenance. In a country with no cemetery grounds keeping staff, and where most tombs are located in hard-to-find places, a tomb easily succumbs to the effects of the natural environment. When we first ascended, the tomb was barely noticeable. The clearing was covered with brush and the mound of the tomb was overgrown by grass and weeds. This was going to require a little more than just some casual tomb sweeping. It was to be a full-fledged tomb weed-whacking and brush clearing affair. Melody’s father’s cousin began clearing the brush with a backhoe as her aunt pulled the weeds from the mound. Melody and I joined in the weed-pulling until her grandpa told us that we were doing it wrong. Our weed-pulling had been causing mud to fall down the mound. This was a bad sign and could negatively affect the fortune of his deceased father.

Food and incense are placed in front of the tomb.

After half an hour of weed-whacking, the outline of the mound was once again visible, and the clearing in front of the tomb was cleared of brush. With the tomb now properly maintained, Melody’s grandpa began the memorial ceremony.

First, a plate of food was placed at the foot of the tomb. Then her grandpa lit a handful of incense sticks and passed them to all of the relatives. They each bowed several times while holding the incense and facing the tomb. Then each person placed all but one of their sticks into the ground in front of the tomb. The remaining sticks were placed in a line adjacent to the tomb. This was followed with the burning of fake money. It is believed that items burned for the deceased will be of use to them in the afterlife. Presumably, the burnt money would bring fortune in the afterlife. Like most Chinese traditions, festivals, or life-cycle events, the day was not complete without fireworks which are ignited in order to scare any evil spirits which may be lurking near the tomb.

Money is burned to bring good fortune to the deceased.

After an afternoon of grounds keeping we descended back down the mountain. It’s unlikely that anybody will go up the path or see the tomb until next year’s Qing Ming Jie, or possibly later. But at least for now, I know I have done my share of honoring my Chinese “ancestors.”

Voila!

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