After about 30 minutes, we finally reached the top of the hill.

The newly rebuilt stone grave looks great. At least better than just a tombstone.

The food prepared solely for the ceremony itself was too much. So much that my ancestor could hardly digest.

Look at the size of that pig. It must be at least over 100kg there.

While everyone was busy with the preparation, the local ‘band’ also kept themselves busy.

Even though I didn’t record their play, but I could tell you that it almost resemble the music for the dead.

That was definitely something new to keep me entertained.

Using live chicken blood to ‘decorate’ the grave is not a common practise for us Malaysian Chinese. But to the chinese here, the more blood the better it is.

In chinese villages, it seems that women are more hardworking than the men. Women here do the farming, fruits & paddies harvesting, while men stay at home.

A common tradition for the villagers to present firecrackers to others on any occasions. However, in return for their gifts, it is necessary to treat them a meal, be it lunch or dinner.

Another common practise here is to decorate the grave with firecrackers. So I heard, there were 55 packs of firecrackers, presented as gifts from other villagers.

There were so many firecrackers that I was afraid it may eventually blew up the whole grave.

The last thing I wanted to witness was my ancestor being blown to pieces. Heck. That was definitely sufficient to wake my ancestor from his grave

The remaining firecrackers were lit and held with their barehands.

Maybe I should try holding it barehanded someday.

On the way back, we passed by their old ‘tulou‘ house. The condition is worse than the existing house.

Everything starts to fall apart.

First I thought was the traditional cubicle toilets built outside the house. But then a closer look, it was actually for the pigs …

• BROWSE / IN TIMELINE
• « KL boy in Xiamen : part 1
• » KL boy in Xiamen : part 3

• BROWSE / IN Travel
• « KL boy in Xiamen : part 1
• » KL boy in Xiamen : part 3