Home Is Where The Heart Is » Lanterns

Lantern Time

Ronnie Yap — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 15:40:29 +0000

中秋节又来临了！ It’s mooncake festival time again and as usual, we would all gather for dinner and let the kids play with lanterns (more like candles only nowadays).

It seems the festival is no longer like what it was meant to be, where children of the surrounding would all gather and go for walkabouts while the adults would gather to taste the mooncakes. Modern-day paranoia has made it such that all the kids celebrate within the confines of their own home only, while mooncakes are bought more for giving and not so much for eating. Seriously, have you seen some of the odd-taste mooncakes being sold? *BWEEAAGGHHHH*

Funeral Rites I

Ronnie Yap — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 15:39:00 +0000

Funeral arrangements started since last night, where the body was dressed properly and laid in a coffin. By noon most of the arrangements were in place and the wake started. Her sons and daughters-in-law, as well as her daughters, all wore black pants/white shirts, while the grandchildren all wore blue. Sons-in-law were exempted, as we are considered outsiders.

An interesting point to note is about the age written on the lantern above. Roman calendar dictates that she would be 65 years old but Chinese calendar would normally add one more year to take into account the nine months of one being conceived. How then does 70 years old get represented for her?

Chinese custom dictates that when one dies, three additional years are normally added, one each for Heaven, Earth and Mankind. So 66+3 = 69, right? One more was added due to the fact that she had ‘five’ generations of lineage when she passed away i.e. ancestral, herself, her children, her grandchildren and her great-grandchildren. So, all in it would be 69+1=70 years old. Interesting.

Anyway, Hokkien funeral customs meant that funeral rites started only in the evening.

Taoist funeral rites started from 7.00 pm to 11.00 pm, and will continue tomorrow.

Mooncake Festival Celebration

Ronnie Yap — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 15:11:29 +0000

The mooncake festival’s actual day is on Monday 15th Sept but like most people, it tends to be celebrated earlier on a weekend when everyone’s available for a gathering. Thus, the family gathered for dinner as usual today for this cultural celebration where we savour all sorts of ridiculous-flavored mooncakes.

Darrell and Jason clowning around.

My dad checking Jason's dirty hands.

Miss hula-hoop preparing to show off.

After the dinner, it was time for the kids to play with the candles and lanterns.

"Yaayy, I got myself a yellow lantern."

"Yaayy, I got myself a beautiful lantern too."

"Yayy, I have a pinkish lantern that goes with my shoes."

The kids are the happiest lot.

More lanterns being prepared by my dad.

The clown prince hamming it up for the camera.

Move over, Chang-Er. The smiling moon fairy is here.

The missus gets the son to join the fun.

"Gimme the camera, I wanna take pictures too."

"No? Oh well, gimme the lantern then."

The two girls were actually having mild fever since yesterday, but all that was forgotten temporarily during the happy moments playing and having fun with each other.

Not in the best of health, but still happy.

Two's company, third one's a clown in the making.

It was time for a ‘showdown’ to see who was the Clown Prince of the night.

First, the reigning champion…

Next, the new contender…

And the winner is……… (drumroll, please)………

Rats! I hate losing but I gotta admit, the new kid on the block out-cute me by a mile.

The winner trying to get the last word in. Sudah lah...