Qing Ming is a very important festival for the Chinese and it has been practised for over two thousand years since ancient time. It is a day for the younger generation to remember their ancestry and their loved ones who had passed away!
Many folks that had shifted to stay in cities but with parents passed away will normally do not return to their hometown or village for Chinese New Year celebration. Instead they will take this opportunity to return only during Qing Ming for the sweeping and cleaning up of the tombs. It is easy to remember this special day because it is a festival day to be remembered in a very special way immediately after the Chinese New Year. The roads leading to cemetary will always be jammed with vehicles and always need traffic police to divert and ease out the flow. The superstitious folks will burn paper money and even fire crackers in the grave sites. For Christians like my family, we will only bring flowers to the tombs. Before my mum passed away, she prepared the flowers for me whenever I returned for Qing Ming.
When it is near to Qing Ming, weather will always turn rainy and I also remember that it is also the season where the yellow flowers of Angsana trees will start to blossom. It is a beautiful sight to see all those bright yellow flowers all over those tree tops and how the flowers are strewn onto the ground and roads by the gust of wind and the sweeping rain.
I was away from home and had missed this rite of tomb sweeping for 5 consecutive years. And I have to be home this year to attend this despite I have an important 9 am meeting on the following day. Because of this I have to rush back all the way from Kampar Perak to Kemaman Trengganu.
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