Baby Yule log 小寶貝的隨手記

Today was Tomb Cleaning Day in Taiwan (掃墓).Last year I was too young to help, but this year I went along to help clean 阿媽’s tomb. We actually did the tomb cleaning on Sunday (having flown down to Pingtung on Saturday), and afterwards met up with all my extended family on my mothers fathers side. By my count there were 2 parents, 1 grandfather, 2 uncles, 1 aunt, 4 second cousins, 11 second cousins once removed, and 8 second cousins twice removed present … quite a gathering! (None of my Mums 16 cousins and 6 uncles/aunts on her mothers side were there.)

On Monday we went down to Kenting, so I could play on the beach and in the swimming pools again. Coming back on Tuesday, Mummy bought a cake for Uncle 梁智豪, whose birthday it was today. Mum also bought a pair of shoes for cousin 桃桃 (梁妤安) - which it seems is her duty.

According to Taiwanese custom, a baby’s eldest paternal aunt should buy a new pair of shoes for the baby, otherwise her hair won’t grow properly at the back of her head (noone seems to know why this is, or where the custom comes from). A comparison of our hairstyles was enough to convince everyone that the gift of shoes was necessary! We shall see if it works …

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 5th, 2005 at 10:42 pm and is filed under Diary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.