Qingming at Bukit Brown

Qingming or what i usually call Cheng Beng usually happens on April 5, with families doing their grave visitations 10 days before or 10 days after. The ritual aspect of Qingming is something i am not very familiar with, but the importance of family gathering to remember their ancestors is an important value especially when multi-generational family members gather together help in the bonding process. Honor your parents resonates across many religions, and is a value i admire from Qingming.

I decided to head down on a rainy Saturday morning to Bukit Brown to observe the Qingming ceremony taking place there and although initially a bit worried that the morning showers might spoil my plan, but i was duly rewarded with some nice photos and also got to join a family looking to remember their ancestors in their own special way.

A crowded day in Bukit Brown with human traffic

Grandfathers, fathers,sons and grandchildren (top)
incense for the earth diety(bottom) 

Multi-coloured paper (left)
Staked but not forgotten(right)

Multi-coloured paper
on a tomb

While going through Google to read about Qingming, i came across this unique search result page when you type "qinming" which Google put up to remember Qingming. I must say, pretty neat work !