Gah San or Ching Ming/Cemetery Festival

[Kelvin & Henri <kachie-hakit@account-pro.com>]

Hi everyone,
Someone I know is interested in finding out more details about the
significance of Gah San, the Chinese cemetery celebration of the ancestors.
Please tell us more about it. It sounds like a fascinating topic, when it
comes to Hakka Chinese customs.

My dad, who was Cantonese, was the leading family expert on Chinese
customs. He told me that in China, the Chinese would bury their relative in
one grave, and after a few years, the remains of the body would be place in
an urn and buried in a final resting place. Of which, he returned to China
on several occasions, and did bury my ancestors in their final grave(burial
site) where a lot of villagers came to witness the event. For the Hakkas,
though, in China, I've been reading that upon the second burial, the
remains are placed in an urn, but carried with the family, because the
Hakkas have always been believed to be moving from place to place, and
haven't settled in one permanent home.

I've also been reading at the Hakka Chinese Jamaican website, that Gah San
is practiced by the Chinese in Jamaica, who are mostly Hakka, being such a
cohesive group, they gather in the cemetery, and pray to their ancestors.
My dad, however, explained to me that the significance of lighting a candle
on the grave, is that our ancestors came before us, and we should remember
them, for it is because of them, we came into existence.

If you have proper explanations for this Chinese ritual, and can compare it
to the Cantonese custom, please do tell us. If there is a website with more
info, please do let me know about it.
Henrietta.