Public Advisory For Qing Ming Festival - In view of the current COVID-19 situation and stricter safe distancing measures, the National Environment Agency (NEA) will close all government columbaria on weekends and public holidays until 26 April 2020.
Visitors who have made arrangements to visit on weekends could make alternative arrangements to visit on weekdays between Monday, 8.00am to Friday, 5.30pm. NEA has extended the opening hours for government-managed columbaria (Choa Chu Kang, Mandai and Yishun Columbarium), from Mondays to Fridays, until 24 April 2020. Please refer to Annex A for operating hours for government-managed columbaria. Many private columbaria have taken similar measures, in light of the latest more stringent MOH advisory on COVID-19 measures, to better safeguard public health. The intent is to spread the crowd size from the two weekend days to five weekdays, as well as the night hours. For the public columbaria, the weekday crowd is only about 30% that of the weekend crowd.
When visiting the columbaria on weekdays, NEA urges members of public to exercise socially responsible behaviour so as to protect our own well-being and the well-being of our families and relatives. Those who feel unwell or are sick should stay at home and see a doctor, and avoid visiting during the Qing Ming peak periods as crowds may be expected at the Choa Chu Kang Cemetery and government columbaria. Visitors are requested to:
- minimize the family size visiting to no more than four persons
- not to bring elderly family members and young children
- not to prolong stay in the facilities
- avoid crowding around the prayer and joss paper burning areas in the columbaria, and keep a safe distance from other visitors, of at least 1 metre
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Temples, columbaria devise alternative ways to observe Qing Ming
Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery has introduced an online service for devotees to order ancestral offerings and book a mass chanting conducted by the monks, without having to be physically present at the temple.
With the government advocating social distancing to curb further spread of the coronavirus, temples and columbaria are coming up with alternative ways for devotees to observe the upcoming Qing Ming Festival.
Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery, for example, has introduced an online service making it possible for devotees to order ancestral offerings and book a mass chanting conducted by the monks, without having to be physically present at the temple.
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A different Qing Ming: Malaysians simplify prayer rituals amid movement control order
The Qing Ming festival falls on Apr 4, 2020
This will be the first time in Mr Tuen Kong Fook’s life that he will not be honouring his family’s ancestors at their final resting place during Qing Ming Festival.
For as long as he can remember, the 78-year-old has been dutifully paying respects to his deceased loved ones on this day. “Since I was eight or nine years old, I followed my father to Ipoh for Qing Ming, and after he passed away in 1967, we began to offer Qing Ming prayers in Kwong Tong Cemetery in Kuala Lumpur,” he told CNA.
“For us this is a major cultural tradition. We have never missed it. Even during May 13, we managed to do our prayers and it was never disrupted,” he said, referring to the 1969 racial riot.
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‘Observe Qing Ming at home’
In view of the ongoing Qing Ming festival, MCA and Chinese religious bodies have urged the people to pay their respects to their ancestors at home as the nation observes the movement control order (MCO).
MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong (pic) said the tradition of performing rituals and paying respects during Qing Ming was something that all Cabinet members, including the Prime Minister, respect. “Once we have overcome this Covid-19 pandemic, we can all continue to gather again to pay our respects next year.
“In order to prevent the spread of the disease effectively, we urge all Malaysians to stay home and break the chain of infection.
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Cemeteries in Sibu quiet on Qing Ming as Chinese communities stay home for MCO
Not a soul could be seen at the cemetery grounds around town today as the Chinese community stayed home to abide by the Movement Control Order (MCO) to stop the spread of Covid-19.
Today is Qing Ming, also known as Chinese All Souls Day or Tomb-Sweeping Day, and the Chinese community will traditionally observe the 2,500-year-old festival to honor their ancestors by cleaning their tombs. Each year, 10 days before or after the actual date, a crowd of people will gather at the cemeteries to pray and to pay respects to the departed.
A check at the Chiang Chuan cemetery at Jalan Bukit Lima this morning revealed that it completely devoid of visitors. A spokesperson from Nirvana Memorial Park said they had already closed the park since the MCO went into effect on March 18.
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This Ching Ming Festival, more opt for virtual tomb-sweeping and online shrines
In Beijing’s Jiugongshan Public Cemetery, staff silently perform rites for 25-year-old Liu He’s grandparents, cleaning their tombstones, placing flowers and fruits, and taking bows on behalf of Liu’s family a day ahead of Ching Ming Festival, or China’s “tomb-sweeping day”.
At the family's home, Liu’s mother also bows three times in the direction of an iPhone surrounded by fruits and incense, which is streaming the proceedings live. “Mom and dad, sorry we can’t come to visit you this year due to the coronavirus,” she says. “Take care there.”
In the country’s Confucian culture, where filial piety is central, millions of Chinese people traditionally flock to cemeteries on Ching Ming Festival to pay respect to their ancestors, cleaning their tombs, burning paper money and symbolically offering food and drinks to the dead.
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More Taiwanese paying their respects online
Taiwanese people are being asked to offer prayers online during the island's four-day Qing Ming Festival holiday - also known as Tomb Sweeping Day - which starts today, when people are expected to converge at columbaria and cemeteries to pay their respects to the dead.
Large religious assemblies throughout Taiwan have been cancelled since early last month to avoid community transmission of the coronavirus.
Big family gatherings with more than 100 people should also be called off, the Central Epidemic Command Centre said on March 25, including the well-known celebrations by the Taoyuan Yeh clan, which are usually attended by some 10,000 family members who fly in from all over the world.
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