ashes to ashes, dust to dust
we went back to collect the ashes the following day after the cremation. after submitting the ash collection form and verifying our identity, we were given a box containing the ashes. we were brought to a room. more rites were conducted. my brother commented that for a man with such a huge frame, what remained after the cremation was rather pathetic. the attendant helped us sort out the ashes (well, it was more of remaining bone fragments) and showed us how to identify the bones. altho he was a 50-plus year old ah beng chek, he was really good at his work. in that short moments, he almost went through a whole lesson on human bone structure with my family. he singled out the cranium, the ulna, the radius, the hip bone, shoulder bone, etc. and nimbly, he picked out the fragments that belonged to the skull. he also shared that there were patches of green and orange on the bones becos dad had taken medicine in excessive amounts (not too sure of the scientific basis for this, but it was a fact that dad had taken lots of medication).
each of us were asked to place the 8 coins at the base of the urn for good luck. following this, we were asked to place a piece of his leg bone on the base of the urn. then all the bones were poured in before the skull bones were placed at the top. once done, the urn was closed. i was asked to do some prayers and to ask my dad to `move' to the crematorium. interestingly, we were given an old tradition chinese umbrella and asked to make sure that the urn do not `see' the sky. as the eldest son, i carried the urn. my brother carried the umbrella. we started the journey to transfer the urn to the choa chu kang columbarium. the monk was waiting for us at the columbarium to conduct more rites as we settle dad into his final resting place. offerings were made to the god of the earth. prayers were conducted.
this marked the final settling of my dad into his final resting place.
we went back to collect the ashes the following day after the cremation. after submitting the ash collection form and verifying our identity, we were given a box containing the ashes. we were brought to a room. more rites were conducted. my brother commented that for a man with such a huge frame, what remained after the cremation was rather pathetic. the attendant helped us sort out the ashes (well, it was more of remaining bone fragments) and showed us how to identify the bones. altho he was a 50-plus year old ah beng chek, he was really good at his work. in that short moments, he almost went through a whole lesson on human bone structure with my family. he singled out the cranium, the ulna, the radius, the hip bone, shoulder bone, etc. and nimbly, he picked out the fragments that belonged to the skull. he also shared that there were patches of green and orange on the bones becos dad had taken medicine in excessive amounts (not too sure of the scientific basis for this, but it was a fact that dad had taken lots of medication).
each of us were asked to place the 8 coins at the base of the urn for good luck. following this, we were asked to place a piece of his leg bone on the base of the urn. then all the bones were poured in before the skull bones were placed at the top. once done, the urn was closed. i was asked to do some prayers and to ask my dad to `move' to the crematorium. interestingly, we were given an old tradition chinese umbrella and asked to make sure that the urn do not `see' the sky. as the eldest son, i carried the urn. my brother carried the umbrella. we started the journey to transfer the urn to the choa chu kang columbarium. the monk was waiting for us at the columbarium to conduct more rites as we settle dad into his final resting place. offerings were made to the god of the earth. prayers were conducted.
this marked the final settling of my dad into his final resting place.
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