is on the 4th of April

and it is a holiday

we actually take a day off

aka long weekend

um

and what do we do on Tomb Sweeping Day?

because it sounds pretty unfamiliar

but it is actually a day I grew up with

since I have memory

and we literally just sweep the tomb

Tomb sweeping is actually a very traditional Taiwanese culture

that we have this custom

We visit our ancestor's tomb

about once a year

and

I know

It sounds pretty depressing

visiting a tomb

but

In Taiwan, well at least in my family

we kind of treat it as a field trip day

for all the families and extended families

the family we don't see very often

to get together and bring foods

I guess it's kind of like a potluck

but at a tomb

and we do labour works

This man's mother caught an illness

I forgot his name

Anyway his mother was ill

The doctor had given him a prescription to get deer milk

Ohh so she could drink it to heal the illness

Yes but how is he going to collect deer milk?

He then wore a sheet of deer skin

He wore this so he could blend in and collect deer milk

then there came a hunter

The hunter almost accidentally shot him mistakenly thinking him for a deer

Then the man quickly stood up and the hunter realized he was a person

The hunter was curious and inquired why he did such a thing

And this is one of the "24 Filial Piety Stories" in Confucian philosophy

fancy

I think this is the newer edition

Cool! There're prints now

floral print

FLORAL PRINT

So my cousin is actually

going to tell us why

we have these tomb papers

that are nailed down on the tomb with a rock

So there was a general

whose tomb was destroyed

during the war

and he used the paper

to locate his tomb

with the help of the Gods

and it becomes today that

we use these papers to decorate our tombs

The speciality food we eat on Tomb Sweeping Day

is called the caozaiguo

and it comes in a variation

from sweet which would be represented as red

and the green is vegetarian

and usually wrapped in

the sweet would be red bean

and the green would be pickled raddish

The origin of why we crack a hard boiled egg

onto the tomb is that

it symbolizes the cycle of life

and the becoming of a new life

another religious belief in Taoism

is that when you burn all these ghost money

the ashes and the smoke would go up in the air

and our ancestors in heaven

would receive them

These Gods were crossing this ocean to get to a party

They each wanted to show off their powers

to see who was more capable of crossing this vast ocean

Ohhhh realllyyyy?

So they each came up with the coolest thing

There was God who rode on a sea turtle

Some on deers; some on flying animals

There was also a God who crossed the ocean via Chinese flute playing

Now the tomb's cleaned

and that's my cousin

I think mission accomplished

we're ready to head home