Ah Po's fifth 7th

Fifth 7th was considered a big event in the series of rituals. It started with praying the ancestors. It was somewhat similar to the first 7th except that this would be the last time the daughters were coming to pay respects to ah po. There would be no ritual on the sixth 7th. And only the sons would come back to pay respects to ah po in the last 7th. To complete the round of rituals, the daughters and sons would come back together in Dec 04 for a prayer by the priest. They called the "hundred days" ritual.

Back to the fifth 7th, the day began with the second brother's wife preparing the stuff necessary for the night's ritual. She was assisted by the third brother's wife, who was chauffeured to ASL by her two sons around the evening. The third aunt, her hubby and son arrived with her kuay slightly later. When I arrived at about 8+, the whole house was well lit. As usual, the young generation gang would gather in the room, while the other gang would be busy preparing for the night's event. Fourth bro' s family came in around 9+. Bata po, her son and daughter-in-law came shortly. The first aunt and second aunt came with their families in Hua Jie's van. For one time, they were early. The ritual started with praying the ancestor at 10am. As usual, the third bro came just in the nick of time. Then one by one paid their respect to ah po. The same old routine followed. While waiting for 12 midnight for the burning of offerings, the group dispersed into their respective clusters and "gossips".

On the announcement that third aunt said last week, she was referring to the $ token that she passed to every members of the family. These monies were what's left of ah po's life time savings after deducting all the expenses divided by the number of people in the neo family. There was a formula that the third aunt used. Anyway, it's what ah po had left us. Something that we should keep for memory.


At exactly 12 midnight, we started burning the offerings. There were around5-6 cartons and a few bags of folded incense papers. Everyone was involved in some ways or another. Some were playing the role of "traffic police", looking out for oncoming traffic. Some were giving instructions. Some prepared the water. While the rest helped to burn the offerings. It was a long and laborious process. The fire was very strong. It took about 30 mins before we finally complete the whole ritual.

Beside the $ token, each member of the family (those who attended the fifth 7th) was given an angbao with the pomelo leave by the second brother's wife. There was a simple "exit" procedure that everyone was supposed to perform while on their way home, after the whole ritual. The pomelo leave was to be put at one ear during the journey home and chant "Shoo away the bad things, welcome the good things!". Then if the pomelo leave dropped during the journey, we were told not to pick it up. But the pomelo leave had to be thrown away before reaching home.

That's all folks. Hope I did not miss out anything. : )

~ Tin Kor reporting "live" from ASL.