QingMing Festival

[parrot]

On my way into town today, along the Udon-Nongbualamphu Hwy, I was delayed for 15 minutes or so while a large convoy of rescue vehicles, buses, and cars entered the Chinese cemetery at Kilo 11. The festival is to honor ancestors at their graves, clean the graves to include cleaning the bones of the deceased.

In my nearly 20 years of being in Udon, I've attended countless funerals for Thais and expats.......but only one wake ceremony for an elderly Chinese woman. It was full of music, chanting, and playing out scenes by family members dressed in a variety of garb. The woman's casket was enormous....entirely of wood.....carved almost like a sculpture.

I've driven through the Chinese cemetery on a few occasions......hundreds of grave sites with some sites taking up several rai of land and overlooking a small lake.

Sometimes I wonder whether the millennial generation of Chinese (in Thailand) will continue to carry on the traditions of their parents/grandparents.

You can see some of the photos of today's ceremony at
https://www.facebook.com/%E0%B8%A1%E0%B ... 639130208/