Maybe a supernatural story to you, but they’re the last sweet memories my mom left for us.

If you have read my previous post, then you will know what happened. If you think this sounds negative to you, I am sorry. I only want to note everything about my mom down when my memories are still fresh. So I can have something to read when I miss my mom.

The stories below are related to Chinese folk religion. We believe in practices such as shǒu líng (守靈), fùwén (訃聞), tōng shèng (通勝), xiǎo liàn (小殮), jiā jì (家祭), fā yǐn (發引) and so on. The process usually takes 3 to 5 days. In short, after my mom passed away, we accompanied her till the very last moment before she entered the afterlife. In this process, we took shifts to watch over my mom on her deathbed. After that, we had a ritual of transferring my mom’s body to the coffin. On the third day of the ritual, we brought my mom to the site of cremation. We have two main beliefs here. Firstly, we believe that my mom’s spirit is still around with us before the cremation. Secondly, we believe my mom will come back again on the seventh day from the day she passed away. I can’t talk much about our practices at the funeral. If you are interested, I will write another story introducing Chinese practices at a funeral.

I think after knowing roughly about our beliefs, you will have more understanding of why I believe in the stories written below. Please don’t laugh, I would rather trust it so it can be one of the sweetest memories when I miss my mom.