qing ming jie and christians

The issue of ancestor worship is complex.  It would be impossible to express exactly what it is and what it means to the Taiwanese.  Each year I’m here I understand a little more.  And, now that I’ve married into a Taiwanese family–as a daughter-in-law to the first born son–I understand even more.

And, still words fail to truly express all that is embodied in ancestor worship.  It is more than simply worship.
Worship of the ancestors and showing filial piety is of utmost importance to the Taiwanese.

The worship of ancestors is probably the most difficult aspect of conversion to Christianity for new Taiwanese Christ-followers.  Giving up idol worship and temple worship is much easier than giving up ancestor worship.

Why?

Here are my thoughts on the matter:

(1) When a young believer (18-35 yrs old) tells his parents he is Christian, his parents hear “I don’t love you, and I am ungrateful for the fact that you have given me life and provided for me all these years.  I don’t care what happens to you after you die–rot in hell for all I care!”

(2) Ancestor worship is corporate worship.  It is almost never done alone.  The family gathers, two or three pass out incense and the worship commences.  If you refuse to participate, it appears that you are ungrateful, disrespectful and have no manners.  It’s almost as if you are spitting in the face of those who gave you life.  So, the pressure–not peer, but rather familial–is STRONG, VERY STRONG.

(3) The social function of ancestor worship is more than just “worship.”  The coming together to clean a family tomb and pay respects is a form of family reunion.  To be expelled from participating in qing ming jie is perhaps the most severe punishment that could be given in traditional society–it means that you are no longer seen as part of this family.

Dr. George MacKay, the first presbyratian missionary to Taiwan, had this to say:

This venerable cultus, the worship of ancestors, in indeed the most stubborn obstacle Christianity has to face.  It is so ingrained in the nature, and appeals touchingly to the heart, that it requires the strongest conviction and the finest moral courage to beak its thralldom and brave the scorn of friends and relatives, to whom neglect of one’s ancestors in the spirit world is the most inhuman and cruelest of crimes. (Far from Formosa, emphasis mine)

In 1925, the author of an article entitled “Chinese Ancestor Worship: A Study of Its Meaning and Its Relations with Christianity” concluded that “the problem [of ancestor worship] will ultimately be solved by the Chinese themselves. Only those who have grown up within a system in which ancestor worship is central can wisely make provision for its future evolution and sublimation. Ancestor worship still awaits treatment at the hands of those who are both truly Chinese and truly Christian. In their hands we may safely leave its destiny.”

One Christian family I know, uses a scroll to maintain the family tree instead of using ancestral tablets.  The names are still kept, family history still proudly displayed and the deceased still remembered.  We know lineage and family history is important to God–why else would there be so many lists of who begot who in Scripture if it were not?

Another family held a graveside worship service the year after their mother/grandmother had passed away on qing ming jie.  They read Scripture, prayed to the Most High God, sang praises to him, and told stories of remembrance.

I think these are great alternatives . . . the advantage these two families have is that they are not alone.  They are families of believers.  The first one was a first generation believer, but he is the oldest son and now the head of the household, and his wife and children are also believers.  The second one is a several generation Christian family (what a blessing!).

So, for those that are first generation believers, the only one in their family, the challenge to show respect to those who have gone before them and yet also want to make a stand for their faith is huge.  One alternative for first generation believers who are also the first believers in their families is to attend the ceremonies, but not participate.

This is what Lawrance and I did.  We did not hold incense, we didn’t join the group in their prayers and bows, and we burned no paper money.  After they had finished their corporate worship and had gone to line up to place incense before the gods who protected the tombs, Lawrance placed flowers inside the structure at the tomb area.

Lawrance has been a believer for 11 years now, so his parents have had time to grieve and accept the fact that he will not worship them after they’ve passed on.  Even so, Lawrance still has to stand up to the pressure from aunts and uncles to join in the worship.

My point in this very long winded post is actually quite simple.  Your Taiwanese brothers and sisters in Christ need your prayers.Would you please intercede on their behalf?  Would you pray for them to have “the strongest conviction and the finest moral courage to beak its thralldom and brave the scorn of friends and relatives”?   Ask the Most High God to give them wisdom and courage to say and do the things that are pleasing to Him.

qing ming jie con’t

After the family had worshiped Law’s paternal grandparents, we all went to the home where Law’s dad was raised.

Honestly, there seemed to be no real purpose for this stop other than to just claim we had stopped by.  However, Lawrance took advantage of the opportunity to find out just how many generations of Wu’s have been in Taiwan.
After counting on the ancestor tablet, Law’s dad found that he is the 10th generation of Wu’s in Taiwan and that Lawrance is the 11th generation.


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After this brief stop, we drove about 5 minutes to a grave area tucked between some fields.

Entrance to the tomb area:

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The tomb area was actually quite large.  It was a two level area.  This photo was taken standing in front of the main “ancestor” structure looking back to the entrance gate.

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Around the outside of the lower area was two tomb like structures.  I assumed these were tombs–Lawrance informed me that these were for the gods who protected the tomb and the spirits of the ancestors.  One was female and the other male.

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Behind this structure there were 120 people buried.

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The people who gathered to worship at the Wu burial site at 10 in the morning were are all part of the Wu family–so they are all distant relatives.  But, for the majority of the people present, Lawrance has no idea how they are related.   Some, who had immigrated to the States, traveled from New York City and some from Colorado just to worship their ancestors.

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A few minutes past 10, incense was passed out and everyone (but Lawrance and I) took some.  Someone at the front prayed aloud for a few minutes, everyone bowed a few times then they went to leave their incense in the front.

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Then they lined up to leave more incense on the “tombs” of the gods who protect the site and the ancestors.

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Then two stacks of paper money were set on fire–one stack for the ancestors and one stack for the gods.

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After all was done, at about 10:20 or 10:30, firecrackers were set off.

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One thing that dawned on me as we were there waiting for the firecrackers to be lit and were conversing with some of Law’s uncles is that even in death the difference between individualism and collectivism can be seen.  In America, we value individualism–being one’s self–we don’t mind doing things alone (ie, it is not necessary to go in a group to get a hair cut).

But, in Taiwan (and many other Asian countries) collectivism is valued–who you are is defined by your relationships.  You aren’t “LeEn;” you are “classmate,” “big sister,” and “wife.”  And, you probably do feel more comfortable if you could go with a group to get a hair cut–why would anyone want to do that alone?

And so those values can also be seen in how the dead are buried.  In America we have graveyards and tombstones for each individual who has lived.  In Taiwan, while I guess there may be some wealthy few who do have their own individual tombs, most are buried in mass graves marked with their family names.

qing ming jie

Last Monday was Qing Ming Jie (清明節), known in English as Tomb Sweeping Day.  If I am remembering correctly, it is the only holiday in Taiwan that is not based on the lunar calendar–here it is observed every April 5th.  But the Wu family observes this holiday a week early.  It was my first time to see a family as they worshiped their ancestors at their tombs.
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We woke up early and were on the road before 7 AM on Sunday, March 28th.  About an hour later, we arrived at the temple that houses the urns of Lawrance’s paternal grandparents.

__It was already quite busy with other families worshiping.

__While waiting for the rest of the family to arrive, I snapped a few photos.  This is a tree that is worshiped right outside the temple.

__Families would start by placing their offerings on the altar.

__Then they would light incense–making sure everyone had at least three.  First, they would bow facing away from the temple–this would be to the worship the “god of heaven.” This here is a photo of our family worshiping.

__Here is what worship to gods and ancestors looks like in Taiwan. This is called “bai bai.”

__Next, they would move to the inside incense holder in front of the “main god” of the temple to worship. This might also be one of the only times an entire family worships together. Corporate worship is not commonplace in Taiwan.


__Then they would move on to the side rooms and/or the back rooms depending on how many sticks of incense they were holding. The back rooms house other idols.


__Since it was the proper time to be worshiping ancestors, the rooms where the urns were kept were actually off limits because there would be too many people present.  So, the side rooms served as another location to leave offerings to ancestors.


__After everyone in the family had deposited their incense, we waited a few more minutes and then Lawrance’s dad declared it had been enough time, and everyone went back to retrieve the paper money they’d brought to burn and the offerings, this time namely fruit.


__Then we headed over to an open pit for them to burn the paper money.

__Here Lawrance explains some of what we were seeing:

__In this video, he explains one of the papers that was being burned to the ancestors:

__After all the paper money that our family had brought was burned, we return to Lawrance’s dad’s car and drove about 10 minutes to the home where his dad was raised. But, getting out of the parking lot proved interesting. The photo below was taken from inside L’s dad’s van . . . yeah, it was just a tad crowded at the temple that day.  What you can’t see is that there are cars parked on both sides of the road–the woman in red got of the red car to help her husband . . . AND we both (our car and their car) and MORE cars lined up behind us.  It was one of those surreal “only in Taiwan” moments for me.


__I plan to show photos from the rest of the day, which includes how the Wu family worshiped the 9 generations before grandma and grandpa, as well as reflect on some of the implications a holiday like this has on Christian believers later this week in other blog posts.