It was the end of the Hungry Ghost Festival (a.k.a. Feast for the Wandering Ghosts) and A goes to the void deck, carrying a red plastic bag full of offerings to pay his respects to his deceased ancestors. The void deck was crowded and the bins provided for the burning of paper offerings was full. He decided to settle for an empty space right in front of the houses that are on the first storey. He thought that since it will only be for a few minutes it will not bother the occupants that much.
Just as he was burning paper offerings, the weather turned windy and started blowing the ashes up into the sky. The smoke travelled towards the houses nearby, together with some of the ashes. Few minutes later, he heard someone yelling.
B: HEY! Can you stop burning all these stuff? I have a baby in my house you know! There are bins provided for you!
A: Sorry but the bins were full so I had no choice but to do without it.
B: You could have chosen a better place to burn these stuff you know! Every year these ashes will dirty my house and the smoke pollutes the air! I am able to tolerate but my baby cant! I don’t know why you all have to do these every year. It dirties the place!
A was furious as this meant an insult to his religion.
To the Chinese, they believe that the hell gates opened on the 1st day of the 7th lunar month and spirits in hell are free to roam the earth. This comes about due to the Taoist belief that when one dies, his spirits leaves his body and descends to hell. If his merits outweighed his demerits, he will be sent for reincarnation and for the others, the spirits get to eat only once a year.
During this month, Incense, joss paper and ‘hell money’ are burned for the ancestors as the Taoist believe the ‘material goods’ will bring comfort to the spirits. It is also meant to appease the other wandering spirits so they would not bring bad luck. Since this involves paying of respects to the ancestors, the Chinese usually will be quite particular about the place to place their offerings, especially food.
What A could have done is to avoid burning the offerings near households as it will bring discomfort to the occupants. He could have bought a portable bin specially for the burning of offerings. This way, even though the metal bins provided by the relevant authorities are insufficient, he will also have a place to pay his respects. He could have put himself in B’s shoes and spared a thought for his fellow block-mate, especially since there is a baby present in the house.
B should have known that this burning of offerings is important to A as the tradition has been around for a long time. He should have anticipated that the smoke from the ashes will travel and thus closed his main door to prevent the smoke from coming in. That way, his baby will not be breathing in poisonous air and his flat will not be dirtied. He should not have insulted A’s religion when he knows that this practice is intrinsic in this particular time of the year.
This situation can be avoided if A put himself in B’s shoes and B practicing higher level of tolerance for A’s culture.
Here are some comic strips to enjoy=)
Hi Angelina,
ReplyDeleteI think this is one of the classic Chinese cultural practices that you illustrated here. It is well-elaborated and explained. However, you may want to bring in B's culture to show the intercultural clash? Because it does not seem very apparent here :)
Nice comics you have there!
Cheers,
CF
Hi,
ReplyDeletethe issue raised in your blog post was very interesting. In fact, I think conflicts like these can easily arise from time to time.
I liked the solutions that you proposed for A. Using a portable bin would mean that the burnt ashes could be placed elsewhere, away from young children or those with respiratory problems.
I also agree that putting oneself in another's shoes is an effective means to avoid or alleviate a conflict. So, swapping shoes is pretty important especially in multi-cultural societies like Singapore.
This is a typical propblem that Singaporeans will face every year. I have seen my neighbours quarell over the same issue too. Besides putting themselves in each other shoes, they could actaully get their idea across using a better tone. For example,
ReplyDeleteB: I know that it is your tradition to pay respect to the spirits by burning paper offerings, but the ashes is affecting my baby. Is it possible for you to use the bins provided or maybe get a portable bin? Thank you
Words or phrases that are pleasing to the ear will usually resolve problems better. =)