Friday 11 April 2014

In and Out of the Twilight Zone

It's the first week of the spring term school holidays in the UK so Tiger and I have been out and about quite a lot, mainly to attend holiday activities at the museums.


Our encounters in the early part of the week can be summed up in one word: surreal.  To put it simply, our experience this week closely resembles the plot in this particular movie (caution: the movie contains adult language, so it's not suitable for youngsters)


John Taylor Gatto warned about this many years ago.  I didn't actually believe I would experience it in real life, until now.  Maybe we just happened to be hanging out at the wrong places......

Anyhow, sanity returned for the second half of the week as we remained close to home.

The early part of April marks the Qingming Festival where, according to the Chinese tradition, people visit the graves of their ancestors to honour and remember them.


Tortoise's side of the family is English so he has never heard of a dedicated time or any specific rituals associated with visiting graves.  Nonetheless, after I explained the significance and meaning behind this particular Chinese custom, he agrees that a tradition that encourages respect and reverence for the elders should be upheld, so we visited my father-in-law's grave to tidy it up and pay our respects.  What we did was a simple act of tidying up my father-in-law's grave and remembering him, nothing like the elaborate rituals of burning incense and paper offerings that typically take place for the Chinese people, but a full-blown Chinese ritual would have been inappropriate in this case, given that my father-in-law is English and is buried in an English cemetery.


This week our main food at home at a few cold dishes, such as the 'White-cut' Chicken and the Braised Duck, that are associated with the Qingming Festival.  The reason behind eating cold food during at this festival comes from a tragic historical event that took place over 2,500 years ago:


As with many traditional festivals that have been passed down through the generations, the custom of eating cold food actually came from another festival, the Cold Food Festival.  Through the years, the traditions between the two festivals (Cold Food Festival and Qingming Festival) have been amalgamated into one.


Other than the above, we haven't done much else.  Most of the time we were in the garden to make the most of the sun, with Tiger just enjoying being a boy and doing simple boy stuff such as playing with marbles,


reading while eating mango yogurt,


digging and gardening.



This post is linked up to:
  1. Hip Homeschool Hop - 4/8/14
  2. History and Geography Meme #112
  3. Entertaining and Educational - Games and Beading
  4. Collage Friday: It's Good to be Bored
  5. Weekly Wrap-Up: The One with the Movie and the Japanese Food
  6. The Homeschool Mother's Journal (4/12/14)

14 comments:

  1. Looks like plenty to learn in the garden with marbles, I remember spending hours doing just this as a child, #Entertaining&Educational

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    1. Me too! Marbles are so much fun, and they're very beautiful too! We adore simple pleasures. :-)

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  2. Gosh my mind is boggling about the surreal part of your week (I've - accidenally - seen that movie!). I'm glad to see the rest of your week was calmer. Have a lovely weekend!

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    1. It's a really good movie, isn't it? :-) The start of the week was bewildering, to say the least, so we are also very glad to have the calm back. I hope you have a good weekend too. :-)

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  3. I love all the culture and diverse experiences you give your child.

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    1. Thanks, Phyllis. There are usually many public activities during the school holidays so we try to make the most of these whenever possible. :-)

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  4. Hwee,

    Your reference to John Taylor Gatto was intriguing and I just had to watch the trailer. I now understand!

    I love hearing about the Chinese rituals and customs. Honouring the elders on a special day in April... Its always good to visit the graves of our departed relatives. Its a sign of respect. I always feel sad when I see a neglected grave in a cemetery.

    Reading while sitting in the sun and eating mango yoghurt? That sounds perfect!

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    1. Sue, it's very gratifying when someone understands what I'm trying to say without my having to spell it out. :-) The fruit + yogurt combination is a healthier alternative to ice-creams for us, which works wonders on hot days. :-)

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    2. Hwee,

      I agree with the fruit and yoghurt. That's one of our favourite dessert combinations too. Have you ever tried freezing it?

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    3. No, I haven't but it sounds like a fantastic idea. I shall have to try it. Many thanks for the tip, Sue! Tiger will be very pleased to have frozen yogurt. :-)

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  5. Oh, Hwee, I tried so hard to understand what you were trying to convey. I've narrowed it down to two possibilities! I think maybe I'm a little brain dead from presentation prep. Yes, that's it - it is obviously a temporary thing. I'll reread in a few days, then I'm sure I'll understand!
    I too love the beauty of marbles.

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    1. LOL! Don't worry about it, Claire. It isn't anything that is overly profound. :-) It will probably help if you have read John Taylor Gatto's book, then watch the movie after the children have gone to bed. Put the two ideas together, and the message will be blatant.

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  6. Wow! Your pictures of the marbles are beautiful!!

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