re: Hakka Burial Sites

["Dylan Sung" <dylanwhs@ukgateway.net>]

Hi Jorge,

Your post to fhakka@asiawind.com goes to the Hakka Forum which can be found
at

http://www.asiawind.com/pub/forum/fhakka/mhonarc/maillist.html

My name is Dylan Sung, and I read the forum from time to time. There are
many contributors there. I'm not too sure how much you know about Hakka
people, so, here's a short introduction. This message is also going to the
Forum, for those who have any experience of graves themselves.

Hakka are a section of the Chinese people from South Eastern China, mostly
found in the East of GuangDong Province to around the area of Hong Kong and
the Westerm half of FuJian Province. Their name is used today to refer to a
dialect group within Chinese, the Hakka, or KeJia peoples. Hak means
'guest' and Ka (or sometimes Ga) means 'family'.

As for burial sites, I can only give you a description of the shape and
maybe a picture of what it looks like. I know nothing about its
construction, other than what I have heard from my parents who had one made
for my Great GrandFather.  Please refer to the attached picture file

There are four areas marked in Chinese characters. The top two character
over the red circle means Moon Terrace (Ngiet T'oi) Below that the oblong
is the gravestone (Bi Sak) set into the side of the monument. Below that,
the white area is the Spirit Terrace, (Sin T'oi). The wide grey area is the
Earth Terrace (T'i T'oi).

The shape of the grave is circular. The conic section which you see is
straight on from the front. The Earth terrace is a flat horizonal space,
which is several meters wide, some can be five or more meters wide. The
Moon Terrace at the top would be higher than most Chinese men, say around 2
meters tall. The Spirit Terrace is to a platform on which to set offerings
to the ancestor buried at the grave. Therefore it is quite deep, say 3/4
meters or more. The dark grey crescent area above gravestone is just a
thickening of the wall of the structure.

A cross section from the top to bottom of the structure should appear
somewhat like the cross section of a step

___
\\\|
\\\| Moon Terrace
\\\|
\\\\|
\\\\|
\\\\| Gravestone
\\\\|
\\\\|
\\\\|______Spirit Terrace                        ___
\\\\\\\\\\\|                                     |\\|
\\\\\\\\\\\|___________Earth Terrace ____________|\\|
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\|
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\|


This isn't to any scale though.

Since your client is asking you to design one of these, they may also know
of its shape and rough dimensions. There are lots of gravesites dotted
around HongKong, the most accessible one I know of is in FanLing's Cheung
Wah Chuen. There are two, one larger than the other and set almost at
street level. It was there probably before the housing estate was built. I
don't have a picture of an actual one I'm afraid.

The gravestone is also important, as on it, the central column gives the
name of the deceased. On the bottom are the names of his sons (and
daughters). As far as I can recall, no dates are given, but it has been
almost 20 years since I visited my Great grandfather's grave in HK.

Something you may like to know about burial tradition revolves around the
double burial. In the recent past (last 50 years or so) people still
followed the custom of the double burial. The first burial is not
elaborate, the body is housed in a wooden coffine. Some eight or more years
later, the body is exhumed, and by this time, any flesh would have decayed
to leave bones. These bones are known as "Gim" or 'gold'. The bones are
cleaned with special paper, and then arranged in a large specially made
earthernware jar or urn with a lid. Some I believe have two lids that act
as a hermetic seal. Anyway, the bones have to be laid out so that the
person looks like he is in a sitting position. The kneejoints therefore
have to face upwards. This means that the ancestor when buried will be
sitting comfortably rather than painfully kneeling.

The bones of the deceased are reinterred and the structure in the picture i
s built over it. Notice the step like nature of it. It is supposed to
resememble a seat. These structures are situated mostly on mountainsides,
so it can look over the vista before it. A good site depends on the Chinese
concept of FengShui, or in Hakka, FungSui.

During the reinterment, auspicious sayings must be said. The act of
transferring the urns into the grave is important. At the moment when the
person in the hollow receives the urn from someone passing to him/her,
these must be said. It is said to bring luck to the family. I have never
been to such a ceremony myself, so this is a retelling of the things my
mother did when she and my grandmother had my great-grandfather's grave
built.

I hope some of this has been helpful.

Cheers,
Dylan.

ohake.gif