Sungei Merah : Ching Ming Festival

 In the 60's I remember the few occasions my father had to sweep his father's and grand father's tombs and after that, we had to walk to a hill beyond Sungei Merah to visit Grandmother Chong Ching Soon's little grave.

My father was not a smiling and cheerful kind of guy. He only smiled in front of a camera, we used to joke and it was really not easy to get him to do that.

We were later told by our aunts that Mrs. Hoover their English teacher and mentor trained them strictly. Laughing out loud was not a done thing, and seriousness was most noble for a Foochow gentleman and lady.

All the "hee lee heh lek" or laughter was considered unbecoming if not coarse.

And my sister and I had seen my father being the most stern and conscientious when he paid his respects to the dearly departed.

He got each of us to carry some bottles of water, and when he started to clean the graves, he scooped water from the nearby drains. We were very impressed by his actions.

And soon he would pull  and cut away all the weeds with the changkul he brought as we stood near him, too scared of the unsmiling photos on some of the graves nearby. We were very careful where we stepped on. 

He did everything without a single word. He must have been sad by the memories he had of those dear ones who had passed on.

And soon we were in our little jeep which he drove carefully, so as not to crash into any of the milling crowds who must have come from down river.

He waved politely to everyone who recognized him. In those days not many drove their own cars. Some even walked from Sibu, yes, all the three miles!!

I would always remember "The Three Miles of Long Walk to the Methodist Cemetery in Sg. Merah, from Sibu" and that was a yearly measure of the filial piety of the Foochows in those days . 

On Ching Ming Day, the exact day, Foochows walked from the Sibu wharf to Sg. Merah, carrying changkuls, palang doh, water bottles and brooms..an unerasable childhood memory. 

I was glad we could ride in our company jeep driven by our stern father.