Cemetery Tour - A walk back in time

Posted by Victor under Heritage Sites and Trails
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It was a very humid afternoon on Saturday, 25 March, 2006, when a group of us met at the Outram MRT station exit H to learn more about our past through the tombs from SPI (Singapore Paranormal Investigators). It was like a walk back in time. (^^)
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Led by three specialists from SPI, codenamed Bomoh, Wisely and Babyboss (ah, you may have to meet them to know who they are), we went, heard and came away learning a little more about the various tombs, especially those of the Chinese ones.

Kramat at the Keong Saik Rd Green
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Unknown to many, there was a kramat at the small park running behind the rows of houses along Bt Pasoh Rd and Keong Saik St. This was the same stretch of greens that I walked since my younger days when I lived at Craig Road .. knowing that that tomb was there, but never getting near to it, well, until today. At that time, there was a house built next to it .. an interesting structure that is oddly out of place. (^^) I thought that that stretch of greens used to be a railway track. But today, I learnt from Bomoh that it used to be a Malay kampong, and hence, a Malay cemetry. How and why only the tomb stayed, was probably because she {Sharifah Rogayah)was the daughter of this religious man.

We learnt that in the Malay customs, the tomb has two kinds of knobs above the tomb, and if they are round, the tomb belongs to a male. If they are shapely, and probably flat on two sides, the tomb belongs to a female. When we were there, the tomb was covered with a very nice songket (gold embroidered sarong) with seven different sweet smelling flowers on top, and some sirei leaves, betel nuts and salt being offered. Apparently, according to beliefs, salt is an important ingredient for the spirits/genies.

What do we know about Joss Papers?
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Questions came forth fast and furious and only the rain stopped more from coming. (^^) We ran to the bus and the programme had to be adjusted to avoid the rain. So, we sped off to the Japanese Cemetery in Yio Chu Kang, while Wisely shared with us on the Chinese customs of using joss papers. He showed us the various nicely packed packages that one could buy from the joss-paper shops - or Sheng Siong for that matter - for Qing Ming, and other events like Zhong Yuan (Hungry Ghosts Festival). Ah, “who knows which is for which?” asked Wisely pointing to the green pack and red pack. By western thinking, one would think that the red is for women. (^^) Ah, I have just learnt before I left home, and so, I was one hour ahead and wiser. (^^) There is this Chinese term, Hong Nan Lv Nv [Red Male Green Female]. So, if one learns Chinese says by hard, one could be guided. (^^)

Wisely was telling us that there are three festivals involving the dead and they are Qing Ming, Zhong Yuan and Xia Yuan (said to be 15th of 10th Lunar Month). Apparently, Xia Yuan is not being observed in Singapore.

Japanese Cemetery
We arrived ahead of the rain at the Japanese Cemetery. But the moment, we started walking into the cemetery, it started to rain. Playing “hide and seek” with the rain and limited umbrellas, we managed to walk around, looking at the tombs of the Japanese Army Generals and the 10,000 (?) soldiers buried here. It seems that the Japanese Army Generals’ tombs are placed facing home in Japan (E of NE from Singapore) - or is it the other way round, my memories are not too good these days (^^). The normal Japanese would face the opposite direction.
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Interestingly, at one corner, next to the Japanese General of the Singapore command tomb (which only had his artifacts) is a Chinese tomb. This is said to be the tomb of the Chinese caretaker of the Japanese Cemetery. And a little distance away, near to the edge of the cemetery, sheltered by a huge Frangipani tree and kind of enclosed by a low brick wall, are 14 tombs, said to belong to the Geishas who lived in the late 1800s in Singapore. The earliest died in 1899, said to be working at Malay Road (the current Bugis Junction, where once upon a time, a Japanese community flourished).
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The Japanese cemetery is probably the most serene and pleasant place. (^^) Bomoh said that it was peaceful both in the day and in the night. As in most cemeteries! Apparently, the likely places which are haunted could well be in the HDB flats! (^^)

Mt Pleasant (Kopi Sua)
Time was running out, and so instead of going all the way to Choa Chu Kang/Lim Chu Kang - which would have been fun because we could see the HDB version of the cemeteries - we went to Mt. Pleasant Rd (part of Kopi-Sua, Hokkien for Bukit Brown, the huge place reserved by the British for the Chinese Cemetery, which was later cut by the roads/highways going through).
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Apart from going to the other Bukit Brown Cemetery at Sime Road for birdwatching, and showing visitors the two guards of a grand tomb, it was the first time in decades that I came to Mt. Pleasant part of the kopi-sua. I remember my mum telling me that during the Japanese War, her adopted father died and they had no means to bury him properly. So, the undertakers buried him somewhere in kopi-sua, without even a proper tomb stone. And so, each Qing Ming (Teh Bong Chua .. putting tomb paper as literally translated from Hokkien), she and my uncle, also an adopted son, would have to seek out the correct tomb. (^^) Had we learnt earlier (well, maybe, Babyboss was not born then), we might be able to do some “litmus test”. (^^) Well, I was also little then. (^^)

Babyboss was sharing with us his fengshui analysis of this tomb, explaining how the tomb was positioned to capture the energies. And that there was a tree behind the tomb, which might mean that the second son might have problems. No wonder some Chinese spend thousands of dollars to readjust their ancestors’ tombs, not only in Singapore, but in China!
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According to this Feng Shui Master (of Qing Dynasty?), it was said in a beautifully written Chinese prose, that if you were to pull out the grass of the tombs with the roots intact, you could see if the occupant is a male or female! The grass of the tomb that belongs to a male has white roots, whereas that of a lady has curly roots. (^^) In modern days where there’s so much contamination like fertilisers, results might not be accurate. (^^) Anyone wants to try?

We met the caretaker of the cemetery who was said to be very attached to the area. So is his father who would go to the place every day, even when it is not Qing Ming. The cemetery is like a silent community [well, to our eyes (^^)] and indeed, it is interesting looking at each tomb to know where the person came from (village in China), when he/she was born, and who were his/her descendants. From these tombs, we would know how many came from which areas in China. Like this afternoon, I saw many from Tong-An and Ang-Xi (Ang-Kuei in Hokkien). Wonder if anyone is keen to do this survey. (^^) Many of the tombs looked unattended (probably no one came to pray and sweep the tombs anymore) and the wordings were fading away and eroded by rain. Some tombs has been repainted or even renovated. Ronni was asking if the Christian descendents would come back to pray or at least put flowers on these tombs of their ancestors. An interesting question, but I suppose it depends. In the earlier days when I followed the Zhong Shan Association (Zhong-San-Yui-Kun) for the QingMing (where the association had a big piece of cemetery land in Bishan), I saw Christians putting flowers on the tombs while the others offered food with joss sticks and candles. Apparently, in those days, many of the immigrants might have died without any descendents in Singapore, and so, the clan association took care of that.

As luck would have it … or did someone say something nasty? The bus broke down after we stopped at Mt. Pleasant! (^^)

Tan Tock Seng Tomb
Another bus came to take us to the final stop at Outram Road, where a former Chinese School was. This tomb, hidden from the public is next to the Tan Tock Seng tomb, and is said to be the biggest in Singapore. It is said to belong to the daughter-in-law (?) of Tan Tock Seng. From what I understand from the people there, they said that this tomb housed two persons. According to Babyboss, this tomb is based in South-West and is the best spot for ladies, according to fengshui (geomancy). He explained on the big circular “courtyard” in front of the tomb and the water flow. He was also explaining that this could well be the best fengshui and that there could be hills further ahead of it. But if the hills are no longer there, then, there could be less descendants or the descendants are scattered all over the world. (^^)
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Compared to this tomb, Tan Tock Seng’s tomb looks modest. (^^) Thanks to Ching Huei and his wonderful travelling companion - a table showing the gregorian years and the Chinese years (described according to the dynasties), we were able to decipher the year the tomb was built - 1850. (^^) And the other bigger tomb was built in 1882.

Timed-out. No chance to visit the Armenian tombs. It was almost 6pm when we arrived back at Outram MRT Station. Certainly an interesting but humid day. (^^)

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