Qing
Qing Ming Spring Festival in Singapore – Continuing a Long Tradition of Filial Veneration
The Festival of Qing Ming is a Chinese traditional holiday observed in Singapore for single day of each calendar year. The Festival is known by several names, such as Clear and Bright Festival and the Chinese version of All Souls Day. Falling upon the 15th day after the Spring Equinox, this celebration usually falls around early April according to the Gregorian calendar. The Chinese celebrates the newborn joy of spring on this day by honouring their ancestors and dearly departed in an outdoor ceremony.
Boasting a history that stretches back over two and a half millennia, the festival is thought to have originated during the rime of Emperor Xuangzong. In a bid to curtail the extravagant displays held by the wealthy citizens of his kingdom in honour of their illustrious ancestors, the Emperor declared that such respects should thenceforth only be paid in the day of Qing Ming. The festival found a firm niche in Chinese culture and continued unbroken for generation until the Communist Revolution, which repealed the holiday. It was only reinstated by the Chinese government in 2008.
In Singapore, however, Chinese expatriates were able to continue their cultural practices uninterrupted, and so the rites and rituals of Qing Ming became one of the many Chinese-influences permanent fixtures of the Singaporean yearly roster of pageantry. Although the festival is not officially recognized as a holiday by the Singapore government, the Lion City is one of the two places outside of China that most prominently hosts the ancient rites of veneration. It is thought that Qing Ming has been celebrated in Singapore by expatriate Chinese living in the Malaysian peninsula since the days of the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Singaporeans rise early on the day of the festival and pays homage to their dead family members both at their household shrines and the graves of their relatives. Thus, the cemeteries, crematoriums and temples all become nexuses of family gathering on this day, by throngs of extended family members bearing incense, candles and food offerings. The Kong Meng San Phor Khark See Temple on Bright Hill Road is one of the most popular convening points for these rituals in the Lion City. Other expatriates go as far as visiting their family gravesites all the way in mainland China.
Other than tending to the gravesites and offerings of illumination and incense, families also burn paper replicas of material possessions and “spirit money”. This harks back the ancient belief that the dead will need to carry these things to their journey in the afterlife. The family members then kowtow to the ancestral tombs several times in a show of filial piety. This ritual is performed usually according to the order of seniority, with the family patriarch commencing.
After these proceedings of honouring the dead, the family then assembles a feast at a nearby memorial park and sits down to appreciate and reconnect with the living in a large and joyous family reunion.
Those visiting Singapore in the springtime should not overlook this comparatively muted yet charming cultural spectacle. Visitors staying at a Singapore hotel right at the heart of the city, near Chinatown will enjoy an enviable vantage point when it comes to festival sightseeing. Raffles Hotel Singapore is the premier choice of accommodation in this area, being a legendary five star hotel in Singapore with a global reputation for hospitality and service excellence.
About the Author
Pushpitha Wijesinghe is an experienced independent freelance writer. He specializes in providing a wide variety of content and articles related to the travel hospitality industry.
Jay Chow – Qing Hua Ci (FULL version)
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