Funeral director do this, but why? (Intro)

I shall begin a series of questions & answers regarding funeral customs and how it came about. These info I’ve gathered during my travels and visits to old Peranakan owned funeral homes in Malaysia, and books written on our culture and superstitions. Yes the Nonyas and Babas of the old days are highly superstitious and our culture is deeply steeped in all sorts of ghost stories.

Certain customs we follow today but don’t know why. There are things the funeral director will guide you to do and most simply follow. Things like the lantern at the entrance of car parks, or why is everyone told to turn around when closing the casket. The taoist or traditional funerals have a lot more customs to follow. Way back in the kampong days, it’s not classified as taoists funerals but simply that’s how most funerals are carried out. It’s simply called “funeral”.

Nowadays, partly due to the lack of the younger generation willing to take on and learn all the traditions and customs, and the passing on of many old taoists priests, funerals have become simpler. But still, when required by families that a traditional funeral be conducted, we can provide all that is necessary, but I fear it’s not for long. Once the current generation of taoists priests depart from this earthly plane, all of these shall be resigned to the history books. Many customs are quite literal. Like the cantonese “jumping fire” 跳火 or “breaking ground” 破地 rituals. These rituals, perhaps in another series, I shall attempt to explain further.

Personally, I love culture, traditions and history. It is sad to see all of the above slowly fading into oblivion in our modern day tech world. I shall attempt to bring forward this series in an informative yet spirited way (pun fully intended). In no way what I present is to mock or disregard any religion, dialect group or belief system. It simply is a “how it came about”. Take it as some light hearted reading on your daily commute. If you’ve heard or experienced some customs or traditions and want to know how it came about, do let me know and I shall find out or write about it if I’ve already gotten the answers.

I wish you a blessed day and tata for now~