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Chinese Funeral Customs and Ceremony ~ Taoist Style

Posted on May 31 in Chinese Tradition, In Memory Ofby PrintText Resizer Text Resizer
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For Malaysian Chinese, Buddhism and Taoism have blended and can hardly be told apart. When it comes to the final rites, there will be too many different rules to follow. In order not to create any dispute by having different opinions from my uncles, their wives, my aunt and my mum, they decided to hire a Taoist priest to in charge of the funeral ceremony and everyone would just follow the rules exactly.

Taoism and Death

Taoists believe that death is not the end of life. When death occurs, it is treated as the continuation of life into another phase, the phase of the soul. That is why Taoists perform rituals for the dead. It is to guide the wandering soul to its new home. It is obligatory for the descendants to offer prayers and acts of penance for the dead. The living believe that the ancestor’s soul is always watching over them.

Taoist Priest Praying Altar

Taoist workers are setting up the altar.
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The altar is completed with 11 Gods in the pictures.
The ceremony is called Kai Guang Ming Lu or ‘prepare the path for the dead’.
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Offerings to the gods are placed on the table. The Taoist priest informs the gods of the afterworld about the good deeds of the deceased and asks for forgiveness for the wrongs committed by the deceased. Amidst the sounds of cymbals, the Taoist priest chants to enable the deceased to have a smooth journey to the afterworld.
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This is one of the musical instruments (二胡) used during the praying session.

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Deceased Praying Altar

On the other hand, the altar in front of my grandpa’s coffin was placed with sacred lamps, two candles, tea, rice, and water.

Two tall candles symbolize the light of the sun, moon, and both eyes of the human body.

The tea, rice and water are put in cups in front of the altar. The tea symbolizes yin, water is the energy of the yang, and rice represents the union of the yin and the yang.

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A bowl of incense was kept burning for 49 days and nights even after the funeral. But of course now it has been simplified that we only burned it for 5 days. The burning of the incense represents refinement and purification of the soul, also known as the inner energies.

A white paper inscribed with the name, the date of birth and the date of death of the deceased is wedged in between silver joss papers. All the food on the table is my grandpa’s favourite food which was served by his daughters-in-law every morning.

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The sacred lamp symbolizes the light of wisdom, yet it could also be referred to as the Golden Pill or Elixir of Immortality.

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Mourning Clothes

Special clothing is worn:
1. Children and daughters-in-law wear Black with Sackcloth (signifying that they grieve the most)
2. Sons’ children wear Blue
3. Daughters’ children wear Light Blue
4. Sons-in-law wear White, since they are considered outsiders.

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We followed exactly even though in this modern era, the mourning clothes have been simplified to white tee shirt and black pants for all mourners. You don’t usually see mourners wear sackcloth anymore in Malaysia.

The praying pictures aren’t clear as I was not supposed to take the pictures during the praying ceremony. I curi-curi did it. When my uncle saw my pictures, he was like how did you have time to snap those pictures whi
le you were praying? Damn paiseh :p

Anyway, I will receive a set of photos from professional photographers in about one week time. So do come back again.

All my cousins wore in blue, whereas myself and my sister wore in light blue.
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During the period of the wake the mourners are not supposed to bathe (hence the shower before changing) nor wear shoes. Modern times and hygiene have allowed the mourners to put on white socks instead of going barefoot. In olden times they were not even allowed to sit on chairs or eat with a pair of chopsticks. Food was served to them beside the coffin with only 1 chopstick.


Coffin Rules

A traditional Chinese coffin is rectangular with three ‘humps’, the one that you watched in Chinese Ghost movies.

But in the new generation, western style coffin is more commonly used so it will not create spooky atmosphere. (Ok, spooky atmosphere is purely Shelyn’s own opinion)

But it’s actually true, imagine if the western style coffin was replaced by traditional Chinese coffin, would you dare to sleep next to it every night?
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Something you might be interested to know…

When a death occurs in a family all statues of deities in the house are covered up with red paper (not to be exposed to the body or coffin) and all mirrors are removed. It is believed that one who sees the reflection of a coffin in a mirror will shortly have a death in his/her family.

Spooky huh? So better hold the ceremony in somewhere else instead of at own house.

The coffin is placed with the head of my grandpa facing the inside of the hall, resting at about one foot from the ground; wreaths, gifts and a portrait or photograph of my grandpa are placed at the head of the coffin. The coffin is not sealed during the wake.

My grandpa’s comb is broken into two — one part is placed in the coffin and the other is kept by the family. It is believed that this will help my grandpa go without worrying about my grandma believing that he no longer values the relationship. It is also for this reason that my grandma did not take part in any of the rites involved in sending my grandpa off.

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A bag of grain was placed on the coffin to ensure that my grandpa always has enough to eat. After the funeral, the rice will be distributed to every near relative indicates that everyone will always have enough to eat.

Complete articles of Chinese funeral Customs and Ceremony:

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