A Day at the Chinese Cemetery: Linking Our Familys Past and Present

For: Dr. Maria Mangahas Professor

Submitted by: Ansam Lee Anthro 224 student

A Day at the Chinese Cemetery: Linking Our Familys Past and Present

A Days Beginning:

It was around 10:00 am in the morning when I started my visit at the Chinese Cemetery Compound. Although the sun was up high, the clouds did cover the heat while the gust of cool breeze of air had made the weather comfortable for ones leisurely stroll. From inside the compound, I could not help but had this serene feeling around the area, as I whiled away my time walking around the compound. On special occasions, especially during Todos Los Santos, which is usually celebrated between October 30 to November 01 and 02 of the year, this place would be jam-packed with people, as well as vendors and food stalls that sell different kind of viands. This is not to mention the joyous festivities around the area, as the relatives and friends celebrate this one time of the year to be with the departed ones. But not today, today was just a quiet moment between the Chinese Cemetery and me.

Tomb Stones and Structures

As I walked past the main road of the cemetery, I noticed the different tomb structures, from simple rectangular type marble tombs to a more concrete type of 2

structures that houses the tombs. This include the grand mausoleums that showcase the deceased ones and their families social status as part of the higher-echelons in a local Filipino Chinese communitys social hierarchy.1

Aside from the differences in structures were the varieties of architectural designs of the units and of the mausoleums. Some had simple designs, while others had more elaborate designs, like installing stone lion figures on both sides of the entrance doors. On the other hand, some structures, especially, the mausoleums had architectural designs based on the departed ones or their families religions or religious beliefs.

And as I stride past these different structural tomb designs, I came across an imposing memorial park, which stood as a reminder of the bravery of Filipino Chinese guerillas who sacrificed their lives participating in the operations against the Japanese Occupational forces during the Second World War. It was a memorial commemorating the fallen comrades of the 48th Squadron or the Wha Chi Guerillas, who died for the price of freedom.2 Another memorial structure that I came across was the memorial commemorating the victims of the tragedy of the Ruby Tower Incident. Although the care taker China, reminded me that there were four memorial

Mike Parker Pearson, The Archeology of Death and Burial, (Texas, USA: Texas A&M University Press, 1999), http://depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/anthro/jadar/pearson.pdf Accessed date Aug. 4, 2012, 5.
2

Ida Anita Q. Del Mundo, Wha Chi 48th Squadrons 70th anniversary: heroism and friendship, Starweek Magazine, http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=813333. Accessed date: August 4, 2012.

structures in all that were built to commemorate the victims of that incident. It is said that many of the tenant victims of the Ruby Tower Condominium or Building died when it gave in to the intensity-7 earthquake and collapsed on August 02 of 1968.3

At around 12:30 pm, I prepared to pack up my things and went for a lunch break outside of Chinese Cemetery. It was a pity though that I was not able to finish visiting all the memorial structures and halls. In fact, I only did past by to most of them, especially the Martyrs Temple, Carlos Palanca Memorial and the Chong Hock Tong Temple. And in as much as I would like to visit them, I had to stick to my scheduled plan of the day, and the next agenda of my visit was the tomb of my great grand mother. This was right after I had my lunch at around one in the afternoon.

Ancestral Veneration

I strode past the main road and into an alley where my great grandmo thers tomb was located. At the entrance of our great grandmothers tomb was a steel gate door and besides it were two stone pillars with Chinese word carvings of luck and prosperity for the descendants. From there, the caretaker, China, assisted me from opening the steel door gate of the tomb structure to arranging of the simple offerings. China was the wife of the former caretaker Luis, who died three years ago.
3

Jerry E. Esplanada, Ruby Tower earthquake survivors visit hallowed ground, Inquirer Headlines/Nation, http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/ nation/view/20061030-29501/Ruby_Tower_earthquake_survivors_visit_hallowed_ground, accessed August 6, 2012.

After which, the son Michael and his mother China took over as care takers of our great grandmothers tomb. They would usually clean the tomb every twice a month. But on special occasions, like the Todos Los Santos, they would clean the place a day or two before the event.

Preparing offerings to our great grand mother was not only a part of our familys activity, but a tradition that was handed down since our great great grand father and his ancestors, and is still being practiced by us.4 It is not only a way of expressing our respect for our ancestors, but an act of filial piety, which according to Muhammad IkhsanTanggok is a form of ancestral worship. He also added that according to Evelyn Lip and McCreery that, most Chinese believe in practice of filial piety. They are expected to provide for their parents while they are alive and pray to them and look after their graves when they die5

This is to show a clear distinction of hierarchy between father and son or parents and children, and the influence that the parents can have over their children and their descendants, as Clifford Geertz mentioned in his argument between
4

Peter J. Ucko, Ethnography and archaeological interpretation of funerary remains, in Techni ques of Chronology and Excavation, World Archaeology 1, no. 2 (October 1969): 264 -265. http://www.jstor.org/stable/123966 (http://www.helsinki.fi/teol/tdk/pdf/opiskelu/Laitokset/hyel/Kletter2/1%20Ucko-1969-WorldArchaeology%201-262-280.pdf) accessed date: August 4, 2012. Hereinafter, this source shall be known as Ucko.
5

Muhammad Ikhsan Tanggok, Ancestor Worship in Chinese Society in Sarawak, Malaysia, Annual Conference Paper, http://www.asianscholarship.org/asf/ejourn/articles/ikhsan_t.pdf Accessed date Aug. 8, 2012, 3. Edward Burnett Tylor, Animism, in Religion in Primitive Culture vol.2 (New York, USA: Harper & Row Publishers, Inc., 1958), 204. Hereinafter, this source shall be known as Tylor.

predecessors and successors, are individuals who do not share a community of time Predecessors, having already lived, can be known or, more accurately, known about, and their accomplished acts can have influence upon the lives of those for whom they are predecessors though the reverse is, in the nature of the case, not possible. Successors, on the other hand, cannot be known, or even known about, for they are the unborn occupants of an unarrived future; and though their lives can be influenced by the accomplished acts of those whose successors they are the reverse is again not possible.6 It is also believed that ancestors spirits, like our great grandmothers ghost, would eventually be transformed into a god who can have direct influence on our destiny and the destiny of our descendants, hence the offering to please them.7

In most cases, the offerings made to our great grandmother would comprise of not only candles, but also variety of foods, from fruits, to rice toppings and an assortment of viands. Together with it was the use of incense and paper money or kim(). And whatever was offered to great grandmother, we also do offer a portion to the Earth God or Tho Ti Kong, () who is in charge of the place or the earth.8 But during that day, I was unprepared for the occasion. Having in mind of visiting the tomb of great grandmother, yet forgetting to bring the most important part, at least that was for me, the offering. I did improvise by buying a few things for the
6

Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays, http://asrudiancenter.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/clifford_geertzthe_interpretation_of_cultures__selected_essays-basic_books20061.pdf Accessed date Aug. 8, 2012, 366. Tylor, 204. 7 E.E. Evans-Pritchard, Theories of Primitive Religion (London: Oxford University Press, 1965), 24. 8 The Chinese Earth God Tu Di Gong a Grassroots Protector, http://www.culture.tw/index.php? option=com_content&task=view&id=1908&Itemid=157, accessed date: August 8, 2012.

offering, except for the kim () or paper money, as the store nearby were out of stock on that item.

Preparations were made and colored papers were placed on top of the tomb, this is part of our local Chinese custom to remind others, the living and the departed ones as well, that the deceased still had relatives and descendants to visit them and care for their tombs. The offerings, perhaps, was a way of linking between the dearly departed past and the present relatives and descendants.

Great Grandmothers Tomb and Ancestral Tomb

Compared to our great grandmothers tomb found at the Chinese Cemetery (also known as Manila Chinese Cemetery), the ancestral tomb in Fujian, China was made with more elaborate arrangements that were somewhat different from our great grandmother. Although both burials were executed with the help and probably the assistance of a feng shui master or geomancer, the burial process in China had a more complex procedure. This would involve the proper arrangements of urns, depending on their hierarchal positions, from grandfather to the descendants.9 Not to mention the process of exhuming the remains and their placement in the urns, as well as the burial procedures.10 It is said and believed that

TongLiong TonyLee, interview by Ansam Lee, video recording, Antipolo City, 12 August 21, 2012. H.G.H. Nelson, Ancestor Worship and Burial Practice, in Religion and Ritual in Chinese Society, ed. Arthur P. Wolf (California, USA: Stanford University Press, 1974), 273-274. * See also the article Cantonese Shamanism by Jack M. Potter in Religion and Ritual in Chinese Society, 224-225, regarding exhumation, When a person dies, he is first placed in a wooden coffin and
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the placement or location of the ancestral tomb is crucial to the fate of the deceased ones children and their descendants, hence the need in availing the services of expert geomancers or feng shui masters, or services of that of the shamans for some.11

And as far as geomancy is concerned, our ancestral burial ground was situated on the hill overlooking the ocean, as did perhaps the ancestral burial grounds of our fathers town mates. Hence the word, Tze Sua Khua Hai or , meaning sitting on the hilltop facing the ocean, which in feng shui or geomancy is an auspicious position or location for the deceased and the future of his or her descendants.12 Whereas the Chinese Cemetery, where our great grandmother was buried, tombs were arranged in order of zones, and whether allocation of burial ground would be just a simple marble coffin tomb, a simple structured cell type room just like our great grandmother, or a grand mausoleum were dependent upon the deceaseds familys financial capacity, as well as reservation arrangements made before hand. And that acquiring hilltop burial site is next to impossible, and, like

interred in a burial hill Five to ten years later, the bones are dug up, ritually washed with wine, and placed in a kam taap, a ceramic funeral pot. The pot is buried in a hill 11 Jack M. Potter, Cantonese Shamanism, in Religion and Ritual in Chinese Society, ed. Arthur P. Wolf (California, USA: Stanford University Press, 1974), 225.
12

Michael Erlewine, The Art of Feng Shui (Michigan, USA: StarType.com, 2006), http://www.scribd.com/doc/87179623/57/Land-Forms-Hilltop, 54-64. Accessed August 12, 2012. Ucko, 27

Singapore state, there were systems in land zoning or locations for cemeteries or burial sites.13

At around three in the afternoon, after performing the simple offering ritual, I took my leave from my great grandmother and bid the caretaker, China, farewell. On my way home, I walked past the alley and into the main road. And despite the afternoon heat, the slight afternoon breeze did comfort my tired body temporarily. As I content myself, knowing that I had visited my great grand mother, and tried my best in learning about the Chinese Cemetery, as well as understanding more of our culture and traditions, especially relating to ancestral worship and burial practices. But still a question still lingers in my mind, and this is the question of resistance and resiliency of our traditional practices against the ever-changing world. Can our descendants or we be able to negotiate our traditional practices (ancestral worshipping and burial practices) against the advancement of technologies and the fast moving paced of a modern way of life? Perhaps it would be a matter of time before this issue could be thoroughly answered

13

Boon Hui Tan and Brenda S.A. Yeoh, The Remains of the Dead: Spatial Politics of NationBuilding in Post War Singapore, Human Ecology Review 9, no.1 (2002): 6, http://www.humanecologyreview.org/pastissues/her91/91tanyeoh.pdf, accessed date: August 18, 2012.

Bibliography
Pearson, Mike Parker. "The Archeology of Death and Burial." J-Store. Texas A&M University Press. 1999. http://depthome.brooklyn.curry.edu/anthro/jadar/ (accessed 8 4, 2012). Del Mundo, Ida Anita Q. "Wha Chi 48th Squadron's 70th anniversary: heroism and friendship." Starweek Magazine. http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=813333 (accessed 8 4, 2012). Esplanada, Jerry E. "Ruby Tower earthquake survivors visit hallowed ground." Inquirer Headlines: Nation. http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/2006103029501/Ruby_Tower_earthquake_survivors_visit_hallowed_ground (accessed 8 6, 2012). Ucko, Peter J. "Ethnography and archaeological interpretation of funerary remains." J-Stor. http://www.helsinki.fi/teo1/tdk/pdf/opiskelu/Laitokset/hyel/ Kletter2/1%2Ucko-1969-World-Archaeology%201-262-280.pdf (accessed 8 4, 2012). Tanggok, Muhammad Ikhsan. "Ancestor Worship in Chinese Society in Sarawak, Malaysia." Annual Conference Paper. http://www.asianscholarship.org/asf/ejourn/articles/ikhsan_t.pdf (accessed 8 8, 2012). Pritchard, E.E. Evans. Theories of Primitive Religion. London: Oxford University Press, 1965. Lee, Tong Liong "Tony", interview by Ansam Lee. Ancestor's burial arrangements Antipolo, (8 21, 2012). Nelson, H.G.H. "Ancestor Worship and Burial Practice." In Religion and Ritual in Chinese Society, by Arthur P. Wolf, edited by Arthur P. Wolf. California: Stanford University Press, 1974. Tylor , Edward Burnett. Animism. Vol. 2, in Religion in Primitive Culture. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, Inc., 1958.

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Geertz, Clifford. "The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays." http://asrudiancenter.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/clifford_geertzthe_interpretation_of_cultures_selected_essays-basic_books20061.pdf (accessed 8 8, 2012). Potter, Jack M. "Cantonese Shamanism." In Religion and Ritual in Chinese Society, by Arthur P. Wolf, edited by Arthur P. Wolf. California: Stanford University Press, 1974. Erlewine, Michael. The Art of Feng Shui. StarType.com. http://www.scribd.com/doc/87179623/57/Land-Forms-Hilltop (accessed 8 12, 2012). Tan, Boon Hui, and Brenda S.A. Yeoh. "The Remains of the Dead": Spatial Politics of Nation-Building in Post-War Singapore. 2002. http://www.humanecologyreview.org/pastissues/her91/91tanyeoh.pdf (accessed 8 12, 2012). The Chinese Earth God Tu Di Gong - A Grassroots Protector. http://www.culture.tw/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id= 1908&Itemid=157.

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