family badges

I've been enmeshed in a serious amount of family time. All Chinese families are big. They are so big that this box was given to us at the funeral parlor. The box contains swatches of fabric to designate your relationship to the departed. I forget what each color was for, but they all signify different relationships: in-laws, on the mother's side, on the father's side, etc.



The box is resting on a tub of white shirts that people can wear at the wake. In many secular Chinese religions, white is the color of mourning.

a time for inappropriate laughter

My grandmother's wake was held on this block full of funeral parlors. It was very interesting. Next to us last night there was a Taoist wake, full of wailing music and at another they were burning things. We had some monks from her Buddhist temple come out.



Everything was really last minute and the funeral director offered this place as being available. He was giving us directions over the phone and my mother asked, "What's the name of the place?" And then I heard her repeat, "Casket Fair Price?" And I burst out laughing. She hung up the phone. "There's no way that can be the name of the funeral parlor," I said. Sometimes the Singapore accent can be deceiving. I thought it was probably something like "Cascade Palace," or "Cafe Place."

But no. The lights are in the way in this photo, but the name of this funeral parlor is indeed "Casket Fairprice." We could not stop laughing. And the name was printed on EVERYTHING: the chairs, the entryways and, of course, the hearse.