wed was an interesting day for my aunt, my brother, my sister-in-law and i. we finally went to the choa chu kang cemetary to exhume our grandparents. and i must say, the whole affair was rather efficient.
the day started off early with me picking up my aunt at 6.30am before picking my brother and all joss sticks, joss papers etc. we arrived at the cemetary exhumation office just before 8am. already there was a short queue. but soon enough, our number was called and informed that we could proceed to make our final prayers at the graves of our grandparents.
it had been many years since i last visited their graves. and this time, i was acutely aware that it would be the last time seeing them there. and for that matter, the whole cemetary. and sure enough, when we arrived at my granddad's grave, there were already a few nearby graves that had already been exhumed. we quickly carried out the necessary prayers and proceeded to pay our last respects to grandma. hers was different cos the contractor had earlier asked for permission to start digging before we arrived. so when we reached there, we couldn't find her grave. instead, there was only a hole, shy of the coffin itself. after paying our last respects, we gave the contractor permission to proceed with the exhumation process and asked that our granddad be exhumed first. the gravedigger, a 70plus year old man, came forward and started the digging. we were told to look away at the first strike. for a 70plus year old person, he was one helluva digger. looking at the ground, it was more mud cake that had hardened over the last 40 years rather than loam. the gravedigger uncle told us he would take 3-hrs to reach the coffin. i was impressed but somewhat suspicious if it could really done. from my little experience in trench-digging years ago, i concluded that such a condition of the hardened mud would easily take a good healthy individual about 5-6hrs, much less an 70plus old man. nonetheless, we left him to do the digging and went for our breakfast before heading home to prepare for the afternoon prayers.
when we arrived back at granddad's grave at 1130am (some 3hrs later), there was no one in sight. i walked to the grave. and lo and behold, in front of me was a hole more than a person's height deep. and inside this hole was the old man, still digging away. he looked up and told he has had just reached the coffin and that we were in time to witness the picking of the bones. in fact, as we were talking, he held up a piece of black object and told us that that was my granddad's skull! within the next half hour or so, he managed to recover some skull pieces, some leg bones, a nylon sock that contained the foot bones (the toes etc) (unlike cotton, nylon is synthestic and do not decompose over time). the old man explained that my granddad had died too long ago and that most of the bones had already disintegrated. in all, i think we recovered less than 15% of my granddad. the bone fragments were quickly cleaned with chinese rice wine and wrapped in a plastic bag before we brought it for its final cremation. to do that, i had to offer a joss stick and used an umbrella to shield the bones from the sun (to protect the spirit of the dead).
the process was repeated for my grandma. we recovered more bones from my grandma, some 20% plus. we also managed to recover 2 socks that contained her 2 feet, a couple of her leg bones, parts of her skull, her silver ring, silver and jade bangles. it was interestingly that while most of her skull had disintegrated, we managed to pull out the piece of cloth that was tied on her forehead. this piece of cloth was still attached to a ball-shaped hardened clay structure of her skull interior that was formed when mud flowed into her skull after her soft tissues decomposed. again, we brought the remains to be cremated.
after lunch, we collected the remains and had them installed at the choa chu kang columbarium. the whole process took us a day!
interesting!
the day started off early with me picking up my aunt at 6.30am before picking my brother and all joss sticks, joss papers etc. we arrived at the cemetary exhumation office just before 8am. already there was a short queue. but soon enough, our number was called and informed that we could proceed to make our final prayers at the graves of our grandparents.
it had been many years since i last visited their graves. and this time, i was acutely aware that it would be the last time seeing them there. and for that matter, the whole cemetary. and sure enough, when we arrived at my granddad's grave, there were already a few nearby graves that had already been exhumed. we quickly carried out the necessary prayers and proceeded to pay our last respects to grandma. hers was different cos the contractor had earlier asked for permission to start digging before we arrived. so when we reached there, we couldn't find her grave. instead, there was only a hole, shy of the coffin itself. after paying our last respects, we gave the contractor permission to proceed with the exhumation process and asked that our granddad be exhumed first. the gravedigger, a 70plus year old man, came forward and started the digging. we were told to look away at the first strike. for a 70plus year old person, he was one helluva digger. looking at the ground, it was more mud cake that had hardened over the last 40 years rather than loam. the gravedigger uncle told us he would take 3-hrs to reach the coffin. i was impressed but somewhat suspicious if it could really done. from my little experience in trench-digging years ago, i concluded that such a condition of the hardened mud would easily take a good healthy individual about 5-6hrs, much less an 70plus old man. nonetheless, we left him to do the digging and went for our breakfast before heading home to prepare for the afternoon prayers.
when we arrived back at granddad's grave at 1130am (some 3hrs later), there was no one in sight. i walked to the grave. and lo and behold, in front of me was a hole more than a person's height deep. and inside this hole was the old man, still digging away. he looked up and told he has had just reached the coffin and that we were in time to witness the picking of the bones. in fact, as we were talking, he held up a piece of black object and told us that that was my granddad's skull! within the next half hour or so, he managed to recover some skull pieces, some leg bones, a nylon sock that contained the foot bones (the toes etc) (unlike cotton, nylon is synthestic and do not decompose over time). the old man explained that my granddad had died too long ago and that most of the bones had already disintegrated. in all, i think we recovered less than 15% of my granddad. the bone fragments were quickly cleaned with chinese rice wine and wrapped in a plastic bag before we brought it for its final cremation. to do that, i had to offer a joss stick and used an umbrella to shield the bones from the sun (to protect the spirit of the dead).
the process was repeated for my grandma. we recovered more bones from my grandma, some 20% plus. we also managed to recover 2 socks that contained her 2 feet, a couple of her leg bones, parts of her skull, her silver ring, silver and jade bangles. it was interestingly that while most of her skull had disintegrated, we managed to pull out the piece of cloth that was tied on her forehead. this piece of cloth was still attached to a ball-shaped hardened clay structure of her skull interior that was formed when mud flowed into her skull after her soft tissues decomposed. again, we brought the remains to be cremated.
after lunch, we collected the remains and had them installed at the choa chu kang columbarium. the whole process took us a day!
interesting!
No comments:
Post a Comment