In the Hive.

My auntie's whole family went to Japan for vacation last monday, leaving only my grandma & the maid in the house. Hence, my mum, sis and I moved over to look after my grandma. The plan was to stay there until tomorrow. However, last friday morning, on my way to work, I received a call from my crying mum saying that ah ma had left. I took half day leave, arrived at the wake to go through the ritual for the arrival of my grandma's body in the coffin. Soon, more things arrived. tables, chairs etc. I left the wake to settle some work stuffs at 6pm and went back to the wake at 8pm. Relatives arrived to pay their respects. The night went on with paper folding while chatting with Suki until 7am. I slept until 12pm and went back to the wake again. TY came and we saw a butterfly flying near the coffin. My distant relatives came again and helped us with the preparation while I went home to take a nap until my 3 year old cuz called me. The night was unbearable as I continued to fold the paper until my right arm ached like crazy. We made the morning preparation and waited until 10am before sis came over to take my shift. I slept until 7pm. The girls came at 9pm with KOI (comfort drink), paid their respect together and stayed with me until almost 12 on a sunday night. I had to work for half a day yesterday and returned to the wake in the afternoon. The paper folding was finally done. We extended the tentage area and had the night ritual. June came over from work, brought us food and paid her respect. We ended the ritual with the burning of the big paper house, clothes, paper money etc. We witnessed BH paying their respects systematically (ard 100 of them). It looked like some HK drama. A little scary. June and I went for a drink before I headed home to take a nap.
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I wanted to go back to the wake at 3am but slept until 9am this morning. My auntie and my cuz were finally back as well. The band came at 11+am and started to play all the sad hokkien songs. Apparently, the band was decided by the son-in-laws. We began the rituals at 12+. There was this part of the ritual which was really heart-aching. Our family of 15 were split to 2 sides of the coffin (by male & female) behind the altar. My yi zhang (auntie's husband) went to the front of the altar. As he paid his respect with the basket of fruits and flowers (a blue board with silver words was raised behind him at the same time), the band played "shi shang zhi you ma ma hao". Most of us couldnt stop crying and we had to "hui li". As my father couldnt be there, I did his part. After which, we went to rest. The lion dance troop came with 2 big head dolls - one male and one female. The performance lasted for an hour or so. There were many people who came to help carry the coffin (mostly from the BH i think). We walked a distance before the coffin was put into the car (the picture above) and went to Mandai for the final ritual & the last respect in Hall 3. The ritual continued at ah ma's house until 4+pm.