Cheng Beng

Today's Cheng Beng, you know, the Chinese equivalent of All Souls' Day. Families will go to the cemeteries to spruce up the grave stones of their dear, departed family elders. In Penang, this will mean huge traffic jams leading to the big cemeteries like Batu Lanchang, Batu Gantong and Mount Erskine on the island. Berapit on the mainland will also see traffic congestion too.

It's funny ... before Chinese New Year, we would be spring-cleaning our houses and before Cheng Beng, we would be doing the same for our ancestors' grave stones.

Anyway, I didn't go for Cheng Beng today. That had already been done four days ago. We are permitted to start this ritual as early as 10 days before the actual Cheng Beng date but I know families who had started even earlier. It's not about being kiasu but only a matter of practicality. The weekends may be the only convenient days for the living!

This year at the Batu Lanchang cemetery, I bumped into my KL cousins who had returned just for Cheng Beng. They were at their parents' grave, just across the ditch from my maternal grandparents. I hadn't seen some of them for a few years so it was like a mini-reunion of sorts.

Where my family is concerned, going for Cheng Beng always mean waking up at 5am. Two good reasons for this: one, we want to find a good place to park and beat the traffic jam at the cemetery and two, we want to avoid the hot morning sun at Batu Lanchang. So we'll always leave the house at about 6am and reach Batu Lanchang at about 6.45am. It would still be pitch dark but already, a hive of activity is going on. For one, there'd be touts collecting parking fees from the early birds. Then, as the darkness lifts suddenly, you'll find yourself surrounded on all sides by a sea of tombstones and people generally walking, cleaning and praying.

My other Cheng Beng spot is the Siamese cemetery along Green Lane, across from the Caltex petrol station. This place, unfortunately, is very run down and nobody seems to be responsible for its upkeep. Certainly not the Siamese monks that live nearby. But this place is shady. There is relieve from the searing sun BUT you face something more challenging: mosquitoes. About four years ago, a big tree was uprooted and it fell across some grave stones. It narrowly missed my paternal grandparents' grave stone but several nearby ones were damaged. It took more than two years for people to clear away the trunk.