Ancestor Worship

My trip to Thailand has coincided with various dates for worshiping or praying to my great grandparents on my mother's side and to my grandparents on my father's side (coinciding with the days that they passed away).

The first worship took place at the Chinese temple - the little plaques all commemorate different people (remains are cremated), and when you arrive at the temple, you pull down the plaque of your ancestor and place it on the table. Along with candles, flowers and offerings of food and lucky money. We lit joss sticks and prayed, and then hung out for a while, since we had to do three rounds of the ritual. For 45 mins while we waited, my parents and my aunts spent the entire time discussing food - where the best type of a certain snack could be bought, news that a restauranteur's son had just opened up a new outpost of a particular favorite restaurant, debates on where the best fried noodles (lard-na) could be found etc. It's no wonder I have a food obsession!

After that, I helped my father burn the lucky money in a large barrel that was situated for just this purpose. This will provide my grandparents with more spending money in the afterlife - I'm sure they will put it to good use ;)

The second worship was very similar but took place here in the family compound. The nice benefit is that I get to see all my thousands (ok, I exaggerate, but really not by very much) of relations at one go - all of whom are shocked that I would fly all the way home just for a few days :)