".....wept for the darkness of man's heart"

Chinese Death Rites

I found this book, "Chinese Death Rituals in Singapore" by Tong Chee-Kiong quite a while back in the library but only recently had time to read it. I was quite surprised to see it, firstly, because I never imagined seeing it here and secondly, because I've always been interested in Chinese death rites and even had pipe dreams of making a documentary about it. But it seems someone has already gone ahead and wrote a book about it.

Below are some notes I took:

Rituals:

• Pearls are placed in the mouth and hands of the deceased. They are said to have preservative qualities to protect the bodies of the deceased. They can also be used to bribe the judges in Hell.
• Shou yi or generational clothes - each layer represents a generation of the deceased's descendants - the more layers, the greater number of descendants
• Beside the chair is a wash basin filled with a cup,toothbrush, toothpaste and towel
• Back portion of the coffin is hidden from view by a screen with the words zhong xiao chuan jia (loyalty, filiality and continuation of the family name) and yin rong wan zai (your voice and appearance are with us). The screen also depicts the 24 acts of supreme filial piety found in traditional Chinese classics.
• Burning of joss paper must be done slowly to ensure the deceased gets all the money that is dues to him. Unburned or partially burned joss paper cannot be used by the dead.
• These chants revolve around the idea of informing the deities of the rituals being carried out for the deceased
• The funeral procession is headed by musicians dressed in military-style uniforms and playing discordant music - meant to frighten away malicious spirits
• The most common requests are for wealth, prosperity, good health and for the children to do well in school.
• The prayers to the ancestors often sound more like a bribe or a blackmail
• Relatives of the deceased are expected to cry, the louder the better.

Significance of Rites

• In this world, a person without a home, money or food is considered a beggar; a homeless and hungry spirit is considered a hungry ghost
• Throughout the funeral, great care is taken to ensure that the deceased is adequately fed and that he has always some money in his hands
• Grief is necessary when the father is an "unrefined ghost". Crying stops when he is transformed into an ancestor
• The funeral is a presentation of the family to the public, and a grand ritual enhances the social status of the family in the community
• The supreme act of filial piety is the performance of the mortuary and funeral ceremonies for the parents
• Mourning grades are based on the formal consanguinal and affinal ties to the deceased - the coarser the clothes the closer the person is to the dead and to death
• The desire to outdo others gives a clue to one feature of Chinese death rituals - by demonstrating to the deceased one's filiality and loyalty, a person hopes to further self-interest, expecting the deceased to reciprocate with material rewards
• Inheritance creates an obligation to worship the deceased
• The desire to enact an elaborate funeral and spend lots of money is motivated not simply by the inheritance but the potential for greater benefit
• So much effort is put into dressing up the dead to be more impressive than he actually was in this life
• The potential for reciprocal gains may explain why descendants compete with one another for the affections of the deceased during the funeral
• By impressing the father with one's filiality and generosity, one hopes to increase the father's obligation to reciprocate
• Spirit money acts a medium of exchange between the living and the dead creating a reciprocal relationship, enhancing the social interaction between the two parties
• Transfer of authority - by elevating the deceased into a transcendent and eternal force, the social group is not just anchored by political power, but also by emotions, beliefs and fears
• Status, or main zi is extremely important, and in the form of prestige and renown attached to a family, it is readily convertible back into economic capital
• Social indicators: quality of the coffin, type of ritual specialist (Buddhist priests rank higher than Taoist priests) and number, paper offerings 'Mercs', large announcements in obituary sections, the 're nao'ness of the funeral
• Death rituals have little to do with personal feelings toward the deceased, but rather with a sense of duty and obligation
• Social allegiances are dynamic and death allows for the articulation of allegiances, divisions and feuds within the family

Cool Lim Family Fact

• Lin clan ancestral hall: 14 wooden boards in the clan hall reflects the conviction that the virtues of the ancestors can bring glory to the descendants, brought from China, inscribed on them are the names of ancestors who had attained high honors of zhuang yuan in the Imperial examinations

Women

• Women are apparently suppose to be extremely polluting especially during menstrual periods or pregnancy. I couldn't help but notice the similar "polluting" aspect in the Sambia culture in New Guinea where the women have demarcated places and objects in the house which they are restricted to and the men are secretly afraid of being polluted by the women.
  

Blast from the past

The Breakdown

1. Tiny Toons - 0:00
2. Animaniacs - 1:00
3. Pinky And The Brain - 2:14
4. Freakazoid - 3:16
5. The Pirates Of Dark Water - 4:17
6. Tailspin - 5:17
7. Darkwing Duck - 6:17
8. Goof Troop - 7:17
9. Bonkers - 8:18
10. Aladdin - 9:18
11. The Critic - 10:19
12. Sam And Max - 11:36
13. The Maxx - 12:07
14. Mighty Max - 13:07
15. Pokemon - 14:06
16. Batman: The Animated Series - 15:07
17. Superman: The Animated Series - 16:08
18. Batman Beyond - 17:13
19. Samurai Pizza Cats - 18:11
20. Sherlock Holmes In The 22nd Century - 19:41
21. Futurama - 20:42
22. Gargoyles - 21:10
23. The Adventures Of Super Mario Bros. 3 - 22:11
24. Captain N And The New Super Mario World - 22:41
25. Adventures Of Sonic The Hedgehog - 23:19
26. Sonic The Hedgehog (Yup. A different one.) - 24:18
27. Sonic Underground (And another one.) - 25:22
28. The Tick - 26:30
29. Back To The Future - 27:23
30. Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventures - 28:20
31. Dragon Warrior - 29:22

I actually watched most of these cartoons before! This is so 90s.....sweet!