Evergreen Cemetery in BrooklynThis past Sunday I went to the cemetery in Brooklyn with my hubby and my parents in-law to pray and pay respect to my husband’s great grandfather. For the Chinese, Qing Ming (or Cheng Beng-as known in Malaysia) is a day to remember and honor our ancestors at the cemetery. I just learned that there are some different names for this day:
o All Souls Day
o Clear Brightness Festival
o Festival for Tending Graves
o Grave Sweeping Day
o Chinese Memorial Day
o Tomb Sweeping Day
o Spring Remembrance
His great grandfather came to New York in the early 1900’s and own a laundromat but he passed away before he can get his family over to NY. According to my mother in-law, he travelled home to China a few times, by ship! And it took him more than a month to get there and he would usually bring a big container with him filled with things for his family, like those we saw in the “Wong Fei Hong” movie I guess. Gosh, I cannot imagine how that was like....It scares me when I think about the 24+ hours flight from New York to Kuala Lumpur. For him was like MORE than 30 days! On a ship! I really respect the courage of the people in the old days and their diligence. Hey, now, compare to great grandfather...the long flight home doesn’t sounds that scary after all...
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