49 Days to the Afterlife JOCELYN KUANG
Rice, tea and a trillion dollars of spirit money
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few months ago my close friend Brandyn invited me to his father’s funeral service. I had never attended a North American funeral and had no idea what to expect or what was customary. I wasn’t sure if I should take flowers or food, as I had seen done on television. The only funeral I had ever attended was my paternal granddad’s, when I was eleven years old. Our family had travelled to the coastal town of Kuala Belait, Brunei, where my dad grew up; the funeral was Chinese—because that side of the family originally came from Fuzhou, in China—and Buddhist—because that’s what my granddad had asked for before he died. My aunts and uncles in Brunei had started the funeral preparations as soon as my granddad passed away. The casket was kept in a big open 18 Geist 108 Spring 2018
area on the ground floor under my grandparents’ home, which rested on pilings. The casket was open and was covered by a glass panel to protect the body from animals. A cup of tea was placed near the casket, as well as a bowl of rice with chopsticks stuck vertically in the rice. (When I was a little kid I had been scolded for doing the same thing with my chopsticks, and now I understood why—it signified the death of someone in the family.) A bowl of rice with chopsticks placed upright is offered to nourish the deceased through their journey to the afterlife, which starts as soon as the person dies and lasts forty-nine days, in seven stages of seven days. During these forty-nine days, there are to be no bright colours or flowers near the grieving family. My aunts and uncles cut holes
in the pockets of all my granddad’s pants and shirts to prevent him from taking his money to the afterlife so his fortune would be left in the living world for his family. Then they began to burn joss paper, sheets of paper known as “ghost” or “spirit” money. Joss paper is burned in order to provide money to the deceased in the afterlife—the more paper burned, the more money my granddad would receive. He would use the money to buy food and goods and to exist comfortably in the afterlife by making a good impression among other ghosts, and to ensure a smooth journey, “like paying tolls,” my dad told me. Joss paper comes in various forms. Traditional joss paper is made of bamboo, decorated with a gold or silver foil square. Fancier versions are available, branded as “Hell Bank
image: tombstone design by kee kee kuang, jocelyn kuang’s father
