Tales of my Chinese Easter

So yesterday, my Easter celebration was done in tradition Chinese fashion, and definitely not celebrating the death and ressurection of Christ.

Given my history with where I am, it also includes a bat-shit aunt that lives near my friend's place. Given it's that time of the year to pay my respects to the ancestors (ie: my Great-grandfather) I had to go the the nearest relative that knows where he's burried and how to pay my respects.

So I go meet up with the bat-shit aunt, and wait up for a cousin I haven't seen for nearly 25 years. We cram into his truck and we head on to the cemetary where it takes us 2 hrs to get in. Apparently in a city of 2 million, about half the town wanted into to do the same thing I needed to do today.

So we finally get there, and we place bowls of rice, tape up some charms, pour some tea and wine, burn some incense, and offer sweets and a roast pig (or parts of it) to the departed.

After we finished doing the ritual bowing, pouring of tea and wine on to the floor of the headstone, we got to burn stuff. Basically some gold paper, folded into ingots for starters, a bag of paper clothing, and bare necessities for the afterlife, and hell money. In Chinese culture, we all go to hell, not that it is a bad thing. It's a monetary thing. So we burn monopoly money for use in the afterlife, along with gold-paper ingots, and the stuff we have up here. Last time I did this, I burned a paper microwave, a dvd player, a car, bling, a TV, and more paper clothes. Fun stuff seeing that stuff burn, not so fun, when you catch wind of the burning plastic that the stuff is wrapped in.

Anyways, the day was pretty good bonding with family, regardless of the bat-shit aunt, who was on her best behaviour.

When I got back, I got a call from mom and dad, who keeps tabs on me everyonce in a while, especially in China since I don't speak the language as well as I should. I mentioned my aunt and how she kinda scolded me for not visiting her earlier. Dad's response:

If she asks you for money, tell her to talk to me or you aunt Mary (the matriarch, and eldest in the family, dad is kid #3, and the bat-shit aunt is #2 eldest). If she scolds you again for not visiting her, tell her *I* told you not to, because you don't have to.

Not going into family specifics, but familial drama is best when you know the details.

Anyways, I visit her anyways, mostly because she lent me her cellphone for the day, and since there was no power left, no need for it. It was also nice of her to brew some herbal stuff for my cold, and I got to see some really pro Mahjong playing. Something I don't normally see at my aunt Mary's place (she's got a whole room dedicated to playing Mahjong with her friends, which hold approx 4-5 tables, has a 30" TV and it's own washroom... very nice, then again, she did marry into weath) and certainly a lot faster pace. Then again we are dealing with people who have a lot of spare time on their hands, so playing MJ is all they do.

Anyways, as for today, I'll probbly be doing the same thing, with my friend's family. Generally this would be between immediate family, but they like me and I don't get to see this stuff often. Plus being stuck all day here is not always interesting.