They reminded me that my grandfather was good in making wreaths for funerals and for the Sing Ang Tong members. He used the flowers he grew on the hill : bouganvellia,sandpaper vines and alamanda. He had very good colour sense.
In those days, there were no white or yellow chrysanthemums for him to use.
Whenever he heard that a funeral service was to be conducted in Sing Ang Tong, usually from Rev Ho Siu Leong or his wife, he would immediately give himself the task of making two or three wreaths. One was for the church to give to the newly departed, one for him for the bereaved family and one from the church committee.
According to Aunty Ling, others would also bring their own home made wreaths but the best ones would be from Grandfather.
He would make a ring first with wires, young bamboos and twigs and then he would ask Aunty Ah Hiong to go to the hill slopes to collect some ferns to bind the wires. And slowly he would use small wires to firm up the flowers on the wreath.
As a family we would go with him to the funeral. I remember on one occasion, when Rev Ho announced the presentation of wreaths to the dearly departed, he slowly took his wreath up to the front of the church and said a few words about the man. And he looked so sad. He was a man of few words, so in less than a minute he was walking slowly back to the pew.
The Methodist Church in Sibu started having tradition of giving western style wreaths when Rev Hoover and Mrs. Hoover taught the local church members how to make them. Grandfather must have been an avid learner.
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