Ancestor Worship in Chinese and Philippines Culture I used to do a lot of home and hospital and hospice and nursing home visits when I was younger with the local church, and many of the people had never had a visitor since they moved in years ago. So sad. More sad than I can say. Here in the Philippines, and in Hong Kong where I used to live, and in China where a lot of my HK workmates came from, it is not like that. They have Ancestor Worship, so they treasure old people until their death with the old person cared for 24/7, then they have their funeral, and where they are buried or their ashes interred they visit quite often. In the Philippines, it is quite common for one of the younger generation to move back from overseas for some years to care for the old and frail relatives, until they die, then their affairs are put in order, and then, and only then, does that relative return to their family overseas. In April and October they spend the whole day cleaning the graves, sharing a meal with the dead ancestors, drinking a toast to them, and telling stories of their lives and how good and honest and, of course, how successful they have been since their last visit. The Chinese have a day in early April called many names for the Qingming Festival (Pure Brightness Festival or Clear Bright Festival, Ancestors Day, or Tomb Sweeping Day). The day in early to mid October is called Double Ninth Festival (Chung Yeung Festival). When those days are approaching, millions of Hong Kong Chinese board a stream of trains, plus airline flights to all parts of China to do their duty of cleaning those Ancestors graves. It is an absolute mass exodus that I remember well from living in Hong Kong. I was consulting with, and doing the daily management of, 120 Chinese, so I got to know a huge amount about their culture, and they got to learn a lot about how Westerners think, plan, manage, and joke and laugh as well. The Filipinos have a similar practice of cleaning and caring for the graves of ancestors on All Saints Day (All Hallows, Solemnity of All Saints or The Feast of All Saints) (1 November). This is then followed by All Souls Day (Commemoration of All Faithful Departed, Day of the Dead) (2 November), where praying is done not for particular relatives, but for whole groups of the dead, or for the dead generally. They are both huge events where millions of people leave the cities, and in particular Manila, and head off in very full provincial buses back to the family home for the 2 days of ceremonies. For further more detailed information, feel free to use the following links: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qingming_Festival en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Ninth_Festival en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funeral_practices_and_burial_customs_in_the_Philippines en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Saints%27_Day en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Souls%27_Day
Posted on: Sun, 02 Feb 2014 11:17:15 +0000
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