 |
Music •
Biography •
Press Kit •
Randomness •
Lyrics Gigs • Photos • Writing • Fun Stuff • Links • Contact |
Sunday, July 21, 2002 So You Can Be Cultured Too Random facts about Chinese culture: 1. All relatives have a rank name that indicate their relationship to you. For example, instead of saying, "My mother's second oldest sister," you could just call Ee Ee. It's a pretty nice system, especially since "back in the olden days" you couldn't say the first name of a relative older than yourself; it was considered disrespectful. However, my generation was unindoctrinated with the real system and we use a combination of the proper rank names with the typical Uncle [insert name here]. 2. Although no one in my family follows the traditional ancestor worship, my grandmother (on my mom's side--see, wouldn't saying "Por Por" make it so much easier?) talks to the dead. We visited my grandfather's grave--for her benefit more than anyone else's--and (my dad filled me in on this later) was saying things like, "Wake up! Your daughter and family are here to see you. See, your son-in-law came all the way from America." It's not just talking like you see in the movies at cemeteries--wishful thinking--she thinks she's actually talking to my grandfather's spirit. As a Christian, I know he's in heaven and not living in his grave, but going to the site shows respect and gives her confidence that when she goes she will be remembered. Hopefully I'll see her in heaven one day too... I'd rather not think about the alternative. But at the rate she's going, she'll outlast all of us anyway; 82 and still going strong. ^ Top | 1:27 AM | | | 
|
