Sweeping tombs, eating food and waving at the dead
It's Cheng Beng and I, forever the family travel operator, is shepherding the family to Penang island.
Last night, my Chinese American friend and I were talking about how some places just call to us. Penang island is like that for me. I grew up here, and so did my parents. My ancestors have been here for nearly two centuries. It is here that I can slip into my mother tongue, a Hokkien variant only found in Northern Malaysia.
I feel like I am finally home, where nobody will accuse me of not being "Chinese enough" because I can't speak Cantonese or Mandarin well enough. I think I have my Chinese merit badge fully stamped in Penang for speaking an older-than-Mandarin-dialect that could trace its roots back to the Tang dynasty or even further back. 👇
Anyway, I wanted to send this newsletter out on Friday as usual. But I was so tired out from travelling from Kuala Lumpur by train, and then crossing the straits by ferry to the island, that all I could do was just fall face-first into my bed at the duplex Airbnb we rented. The idea of writing anything more robust than a food list was daunting.
But that didn't stop the family from indulging in a feast at a nearby Gurney Drive restaurant. Now, Penang-ites will tell you that the food outlets at Gurney Drive are a tourist trap and the food is a poor representation of Penang food, but we didn't care, as you can see!
Remembering the dead. With food. Lots of it.
Every year around the first week of April, my parents and I will travel to Penang to pay respects to our ancestors on "Cheng Beng" or "Tomb Sweeping Day". That's the day when Chinese families will visit family graves to pay respects and tidy it up.
For my family, it's like a pilgrimage. We will travel from Selangor to Penang to pay respects to our ancestors in various temples around the island. And then buy and eat food. Lots of it. You can say that we are pilgrims of food and family.
I look forward to these trips every year.
Travelling with my parents is, uh, a unique experience. Compared to previous years, they've slimmed down their luggage massively. But in the past, they'd look as if they were packing for a year-long sojourn to a foreign land instead of a week's trip. These days, they pack as if they'll be going for a month-long sojourn. A massive improvement.
Still, Mummy would pack half the pantry with her, convinced that we would somehow starve on the way to Penang. And that included coffee, bless her heart. When she forgot the java last year, she made me buy a jar. Never mind that it would do us good to do without caffeine for a couple of days. One shall not deny oneself of coffee even for a single morning. I can see where I got my coffee addiction from.
My dad, in the meantime, would complain about my mum bringing the pantry while hiding the fact that he has brought his toolroom with him.
Just the other day my mum couldn't open a bottle, so she told my dad to get out a bottle opener.
My dad grumbled, "Why do you all assume I always bring these things?"
And promptly produced a Swiss army knife and peeled off the bottle cap.
"How would you all survive without me?" he grumbled.
Meanwhile, my brother and I would complain about our parents' packrat ways, but my brother reminded me that I have no leg to stand on because this year I brought my vegetable garden along with me.
I mean, please, it’s not the entire vegetable garden, mind. Just most of the vegetables.
I mean, I'll be gone for a week! Might as well cook them at the Airbnb, amirite?
Just you wait bro, it's the inevitable fate of every Tai family member to be overly prepared for vacations.
The day after arriving in Penang, we did our duty and headed to Phor Tay temple, where most of my ancestors’ spirit tablets are.
The most bizarre thing about this temple is that it is located right smack in the middle of a school. So, while we walked around with joss sticks and burned paper money, we could see the students in their classrooms.
This year, my dad made a special effort to point out the spirit tablets of our ancestors, and I took down the numbers, especially after he said that "in the future when I'm not around, I don't know if this tradition (of visiting them) will continue". Cough, yes Dad, point noted.
We also visited Air Itam. My paternal grandparents are buried way up there at the Kek Lok Si temple, but we hardly ever go up there because my parents find it difficult to climb up the steep hill to the columbarium.
But I cannot deny that the main motivation for visiting Air Itam is food.
Specifically, traditional Chinese biscuits called tau sah peah and durian kuih, which Mummy will buy at least 12 boxes to distribute to friends and family back in Kuala Lumpur. (Coming back empty handed will be unforgivable.)
Mum is convinced that this biscuit shop has magical powers that bless its biscuits with special flavours. I remind her every single year that this brand of biscuits has a branch in Georgetown a mere 400m from our hotel, which we would head to after our stay at Gurney Drive.
If you've read my previous adventures with my mother, you will know how this went.
Yes, Mummy firmly believes that the biscuits at the Georgetown branch are "just not as good" despite coming from the same shop in Air Itam. So, that's the end of the story and nothing I say will move that mountain of determination that is my mother.
So every year, I complain all the way to Air Itam, grumble while Mum loads up her bags with boxes of biscuits, and then walk to the foothill of the Kek Lok Si temple to wave at grandma and grandpa.
Cultural Notes
“Air Itam” means “Black Waters”.
The Kek Lok Si temple was built in 1891.
Cheng Beng is the Hokkien word for Qing Ming, which is in Mandarin. On that day, Chinese people will go to the graves of their relatives to sweep them, clear weeds and keep the gravesite tidy. We also offer food at the grave sites. It has been celebrated for over 2,500 years.
When someone visits Penang, they’re expected to buy some tau sah peah (mung bean biscuits) for their colleagues, friends, or family. If you come home empty-handed without these, they will be deeply disappointed at your lack of acknowledgment for this unspoken but iron-clad rule.
If you are brave you can try to make them. I, for one, am glad someone make them for me!
The famous brands that bake these pastries include Ghee Heang and Him Heang. My mum pooh-poohs them and prefers the much tinier and lesser-known Seng Seng Heang instead.
Don’t tell Mummy but I prefer Him Heang.
Penang’s tau sar peah is round, while the ones made in the south like Kuala Lumpur, is flat like a pancake. In typical obnoxious Northerner fashion, I will say that “Penang one better”.
You can also give me a tip:
Your words - wonderful! You wrote, "... :traditional Chinese biscuits called tau sah peah and durian kuih,..." Now I am hungry for traditional Chinese food. I look forward to reading more on your site.
Penang and KL can fight over who has the better food all you want but we all know Ipoh has the best. 😉