Symbols

The Ching Ming Festival (Pure Brightness Festival) or "Tomb Sweeping Day" is a national holiday in China which brings families to the graves of departed loved ones to clean the grave sites and honor their memory.

































































Families leave symbols of those things that the dead enjoyed when they were alive and by which they are remembered. For instance, if someone liked tea, the relatives would drink tea at the grave, smoke a cigarette, etc. If the dead were remembered for how hard they worked to make money, then fake money is purchased and burned so that the dead can have funds in the next life.

It begs the questions: "By what will I be remembered?"

Within a few days of Tomb Sweeping Day begins several Blossom Festivals which mark the growth of crops of flowers such as the beautiful pink Peach tree blossoms and the bright yellow Rapeseed plants from which are harvested beans which make a vegetable oil for cooking and the plant itself is used for livestock food. Canadian farmers created a low acid variety called, "Canola Oil." Debbie and I traveled with some friends to two major blossom festivals in the countryside. We also stopped by the boyhood home of one of our new Chinese friends, and the bright yellow Rapeseed plants can be seen growing not only in fields but along one of the ancient canals directly beside his home.

The fact that following the day of remembering the dead are festivals to celebrate the blossoms of spring is not lost on my soul.

Easter Sunday marks a day of remembering the life and death of Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the Living God. By what symbols is He remembered? The cross - for his death; and the empty grave - for His resurrection. These symbols were not for Him, but for us. His death was for the price of our sins and the empty tomb, the victory offered to anyone who would surrender to Him as Lord of their lives.