Prayers for Our Ancestors During Qing Ming Festival (2020)

So did offer prayers for your ancestors this year amidst the Covid-19 virus pandemic? Though we could not prepare what we usually have, we still did our best. Read on to find out our family traditions in terms of food preparation and "sending" of money to the after world.

By now almost everyone in Malaysia are trapped within the four walls of their comfortable abode right? For the Chinese, this is supposed to be the time when we prepare sumptuous feast for our departed ancestors when they "return home". Prior to that, we will be buying lots of vegetables, meats and ingredients that will be used for our lunch. Then existing family members will get together to enjoy the reunion luncheon with our late beloved ones and relatives to celebrate their "homecoming"! Unfortunately this year we will not be able to do just that!

Offering prayers to their late grandma and ancestors

This year no thanks to the highly insidious Covid-19 Virus which is wreaking havoc in almost every corner of the world, we were forced to be locked down in our very home. So we couldn't really go out to buy lots of ingredients to be used for our grand luncheon with our ancestors. Instead we need to ration our food during this Movement Control Order which is one of the forms of lockdown that is happening in more than half of the countries worldwide. Moreover family members from afar could not return to join the "reunion luncheon" with their late family members and ancestors due to the restricted movement order. *Sigh*

It's time for them to feast. Can you see them?

This is really saddening as most of us really look forward to such family gathering. It is not easy to meet up with your siblings and other relatives right? So this is the time when we will seize the opportunity to meet up and enjoy great family cuisines together. NOPE! This is definitely not happening this year. Nonetheless we still carried on and prepared for the luncheon with whatever ingredients and groceries that we have in our refrigerator. So that morning, wifey woke up early as usual to prepare for her cooking.

Make sure the rice are "mountainous" to bring in good tidings and luck.

Curry chicken

 Banana fish

 Nutritious black beans

 MIxed vegetables

 Fried chickens

 Omelette

Sponge marble cake 

Bahahaha the curry instant noodle 😁

Unlike the usual generous spread of dishes that we usually have, wifey had to make do with the scarcity that we are facing (relatively speaking). Still she managed to cook 6 different scrumptious dishes and bake a cake. Likewise yours truly me had also prepared one dish for my late mother-curry flavour instant noodle with egg. LOL 😂 That was for my late mother of course. I am sure she loved it.

Guarding the food to make sure no flies was around

After we have served the food, we will wait for at least one and a half hours for our late ancestors to enjoy it. So how do we know if they have already done feasting on their food? Not easy as we can't really see them unless you have a third eye to do the job. Otherwise we usually rely on a pair of wooden moon blocks or Jiaobei to seek for answers from our ancestors. We will throw the moon blocks on the floor and if both are facing the opposite directions (facing upward and downward), then we know that they have given us their nods of approval.

Jordan boy throwing the wooden moon blocks and burning "money"!

Usually Jordan boy will be doing this part-asking if his late grandma and other ancestors have already finished their lunch or not. So if their answer is yes, we will start to clear their table. We will then also "send" them their money by burning them joss paper. Again this year I allowed Jordan boy to help me in executing this duty as well. So on that day after they had sent them their money, it was our turn to enjoy the luncheon. It was really kinda sad not being able to enjoy this lunch with my brother who is trapped in other state due to the Covid 10 outbreak. So have you guys offered your prayers to your ancestor?

Time to "send" money to our ancestors 

 By burning them 😂

P.S.: Such festival does remind me of the movie Coco. 😀