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.


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

Entrance to the tomb area:

___
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.

___
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.

___
Behind this structure there were 120 people buried.

___
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.

___
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.

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

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

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

___
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.