Time to sweep the graves.

April 5th is the Grave Sweeping Day in Chinese culture. This is a day when all the relatives go to the ancestral tomb where the family members are all laid to rest and they clean up the tomb site. Unlike in American cemeteries where there is a caretaker that keeps them looking nice all year round, not much is done for the family ancestral tombs in Taiwan. This is because many times they are not all collected in one cemetery, but they may be located on any solitary hillside that is determined to be a place of good feng shui. When you arrive at the tomb you first need to spend time cleaning it. After that, food is placed out and respect is paid to the ancestors. You take incense sticks and burn them and while the incense sticks are burning all the relatives sit around and catch up on news from their family since they were last together. Many of them we only see at this time and so this is a good opportunity for all. You also eat the food that has been prepared for the ancestors. This year we brought copies of the family genealogy that we had put together for them. We have collected about 600 names and presented it to the heads of each family in attendance. We told them how they could download family search and have this information accessible to them. After we went with Jennifer's sisters Linda and Yumin and their families to a lake and had a barbecue. We barbecued corn from our own garden with the meal. We spent the night there watching the hoards of fireflies which come out this time of year and also went for a bike ride around the lake.