My Roots on the Graveyard Hill
Generations of Huang ancestors have been resting on the same mountain, it is not just a sign of returning to one's roots, it is also a strong family tie that binds us. We are one family in life, and we will be reunited on the same piece of land after we pass away.
Yiru Huang-Pace
清明节是中国一个悼念先人、祭扫陵墓的传统佳节。自我很小的时候开始,我家就有一年随母亲那边,一年随父亲那边去扫墓的习俗。
我父亲是出生于一个很小的村落,那里全村人都姓黄,由于村子人口不多,所以大家都非常熟悉,就像一家人一般。村子靠近群山环绕,离村民居住的地方不远就有一座祖坟山。据说很久很久以前,从村里第一个去世的黄姓人被安葬在那座山上开始,之后所有村里的黄姓族人离世后,都被安葬于那里。我父亲常对我说,等他老去时也希望能够安息于那座山,因为那里是他的根源所在。就像一棵参天大树,虽然枝叶已经伸展得遥不可及,但根系却永远牢牢扎根于土壤之中。
或许我们骨子里都相信着死后会去往另一个世界,即使很多人并非信奉基督教,对于天堂的概念也不太了解。但世世代代的黄姓先人都长眠于同一座山,这不仅仅是"落叶归根",更像是一种强有力的家族纽带在束缚着我们。生前我们是一家人,去世后也要在同一片土地上团聚。
2021年的那个清明节是个别具意义的日子,因为那一年的9月我就要远赴美国留学了。父亲带着我重游了祖坟山,一座座介绍着先人的墓碑。他讲述着每一位先人生前的经历和事迹,还有一些发生在他们那一辈的往事。由于知道未来几年我都难有机会回来祭祖,所以那一次的扫墓时间比往年都要长得多。我在先人的墓前告知他们我即将远行异乡,希望他们的在天之灵能够保佑我一切顺利,身体健康。
也许这就是另一种形式的"归根"吧。无论一棵树的枝叶有多高多茂密,它的营养都是从根系那里吸收的。我们每个人虽然现在生活在不同的地方,但内心深处都还牢牢扎根于这片养育了祖先的土地。
My Roots on the Graveyard Hill
The Qingming Festival is a traditional Chinese holiday to honor the memory of our ancestors and to visit their tombs. Since I was very young, my family has had the custom of visiting the graves with my mother one year and with my father one year.
My father was born in a very small village where the entire village has the same last name Huang, and since the village was not very populated, everyone was very familiar with each other, just like a family. The village is surrounded by mountains, and not far from where the villagers live is a mountain of ancestral tombs. It is said that the first person with the surname Huang who died in the village was buried on that hill a long time ago, and after that, all the Huangs in the village were buried there after they passed away. My father used to tell me that when he grew old, he wanted to be buried on that hill because it was where his roots were. Just like a big tree, although the branches and leaves have spread out of reach, the roots are always firmly rooted in the soil.
Ancestral Blessings…
Before leaving for college, I stood in front of the graves of my ancestors, I told them that I would soon be studying in a foreign land and hoped that their spirits would bless me with good fortune and good health.
Yiru Huang-Pace
Perhaps we all believe in our bones that we will go to another world after death, even though many of us are not Christian and do not know much about the concept of heaven. But the fact that generations of Huang ancestors have been resting on the same mountain is not just a sign of returning to one's roots, it is also a strong family tie that binds us. We are one family in life, and we will be reunited on the same piece of land after we pass away.
The Qingming Festival in 2021 was a very special day because I was going to study in the United States in September of that year. My father took me to revisit the hill of ancestral graves, where the tombstones of our ancestors were introduced one by one. He told me about the experiences and deeds of each ancestor, as well as some of the events that happened in their generation. Knowing that it would be difficult for me to come back to visit my ancestors in the coming years, I visited the graves for a much longer period of time than in previous years. In front of the graves of my ancestors, I told them that I would soon be studying in a foreign land and hoped that their spirits would bless me with good fortune and good health.
Perhaps this is another form of "returning to one's roots". No matter how tall and dense a tree's branches and leaves are, its nourishment is absorbed from its roots. Although we all live in different places now, we are still firmly rooted in the land that nurtured our ancestors.
Written by: Yiru Huang-Pace
