My fundamental religious views and values are pretty much shaped by Disney.
Last week we went to the Manoa Chinese Cemetery. It's a ridiculously gorgeous site with the ultimate feng shui, according to the giant monument erected to honor all the ancestors (in other words, the one for the lazy people who don't want to pray for every single one, hehe.) I didn't bring my camera though, but it's surrounded by three mountains, North, East, and West, which represents one of those Chinese guardians thing (I know there's a Dragon and a Tiger or something somewhere), and then the South is opened to the ocean. Back in the day when Chinese immigrants first came to Hawaii, they didn't have a site for a cemetery so they hired some feng shui expert to wander around the island for the perfect spot. He declared this place was and all the immigrants pooled their money and bought it. AWww teamwork. Except now I think they're selling away plots since land is scarce and lots of money is to be made.
Back to the good old days. Because their families were still in China and sometimes they would die here, the Chinese decided to form associations, usually encompassing a hometown, where they would prey for each other until their families come to Hawaii (and some usually don't.) The event I went to last week was for the people of Lung Doo, which is where my po po is from. There's a bunch of us here - I think everyone from my great grandfather and down managed to find their way here.
 |
| This was a while back, but they had a reunion and we took over an entire banquet restaurant. Insane. Mayors and government officials were all there. Even those beauty queens paid us a visit. |
The whole event ended up being a family reunion for me, which is cool. I never realized I had so many second cousins! Apparently one of my mom's cousin is an art professor at UH Hilo (really....we have that and they give me smack about soil science??), and from a lot of difference marriage links we have Senator Akaka. We're everywhere.
 |
| The part of the mob willing to wake up super early. |
 |
| Gorgeous! |
Yesterday we prayed for the people in our immediate family, so it was a smaller event, though there were still tons of people I don't really know. I'm going to have to make a family tree diagram to help me navigate future awkward encounters.
I think our great grandpa is here. Physically he's buried in China, but when my family came, they immigrated the little plaque with his name on it to some Buddhist temple. Apparently it's around 8k to put your plaque here. Crazy.
So instead of Picnic Day at Davis, we had a picnic...at a cemetery instead! Great fun. Miss you all. <3
No comments:
Post a Comment