h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Ay my last t'ai chi lesson, I asked a question, which led to the teacher telling us two things about Chinese customs relating to death. The first was a ceremony she still does when attending a funeral. Before she leaves the house, she gets a box of matches and covers it with newspapers and leaves it outside the front door. On returning from the funeral, she unwraps the matches, lights a match and sets fire to the paper. Then when it's burned and still smoking, she steps over it before entering the house to prevent spirits entering the home. I said I thought it was a bit like smudging to cleanse and purify.

The second was about the ancestor shrine and how all the members of the family were honoured. Twice a year, there is a celebration where people bring food and drink and burn paper money and then eat the food. My teacher knows her ancestry for 600 years, which is pretty incredible. Apparently one of her ancestors was a governor/general of Hong Kong.

In the west, we hardly know past our grandparents.

Wow, that's very interesting. I'm not sure about setting fire to stuff, especially so near to my house I get nervous lighting my candles and there are people I know who should never be allowed anywhere near matches!

I managed to trace my family back to the 19th Century but then couldn't decide which line to go back, my cousin got to the 18th Century but he had done his mother's line, no relation to me so couldn't share

Hope you are well, and little