Qingming Festival: A Quarter Thai

Yesterday, I returned to my parents' hometown to pay respect at my grandmother(dad's late mother)'s grave for the Qingming Festival. It was my first time visiting the grave for the festival so it was a new experience for me and my brother.

Dad's mother passed away the year before I was born, so I never knew how it was like to have a grandmother. Of course, I didn't know much about her either, besides having heard about her from my parents and relatives, and through her photos at my grandfather's home.

Taken off chinadaily.com.cn

Yesterday, at the grave, I noticed the name of my late grandmother on the tombstone. I shan't disclose her name, but it turns out that my late grandmother was a Thai descendent.

I don't know if I should say this is shocking, as many have been saying I might be part Thai. But now that it's confirmed, apparently I'm a quarter Thai. No wonder people have been saying I look like a Thai. 

Besides that, I also noticed the passing date engraved on the tombstone. It was 9.11.1990. I was born on 11.9.1991.

Since young I've always been said to be the rebirth of my grandmother, because I was born 10 months after her passing. My parents who were married for six years then had no children and my mother told me that she had apologised to my grandmother for not being able to bring her a grandchild, and she told her to bring her a child if she heard her prayers. Not long after, I was born.

A Qingming poem.

I don't know how true the 'rumour' could be. I'm me now, anyway. I know the dates mentioned above wouldn't make sense if the months were spelt in alphabets, but I found it interesting to know that there's such a coincidence on the dates of the late grandmother's passing and the day I was born. 

Anyway, it was a good experience visiting the grave for Qingming. There were lots of other families cleaning up the graves of their ancestors too. For someone who hates heat so much, I must say I was very lucky because I was told that most of the years our relatives had to clean the grave under the blazing sun, while on the morning when I attended Qingming for the first time, it was cloudy without much heat. 

I'm happy and am thankful for that. :)

Before ending this post, I have a confession to make. 

The discovery that I am a quarter Thai isn't real. My grandmother was Chinese. As far as I can be sure for now, she wasn't Thai in any way. As for the coincidences of the dates and the story about my parents prayers for my grandmother, as absurd as it may seem, what I said about it was completely true.

Happy April Fools' Day! 

The tweet that inspired my
probably-not-so-successful April Fool prank.