Qingming Festival is when Chinese people visit the graves or burial grounds of their ancestors. In Ubin, it is a muted scene with 2 chinese graveyards much smaller than in main-land Singapore. Before the festival, families would arrange to have caretakers clear and remove overgrowing vegetation. It also allows me the opportunity to revisit and take scenes that may be gone forever. There is little time to waste, all the more so when large swatch of Bukit Brown cemetery will soon make way for highway development. The 2 cemeteries sit on high ground and land developers must be salivating and coveting now.
Qingming is also the time when weather clear with calm seas for fishing after the stormy north east monsoon. I was lucky to be able to take photos of picturesque bumboats converging into Ubin jetty on a beautiful afternoon.
There are two Chinese cemeteries in Ubin. They are named ‘Kg. Bukit Coffee’ and ‘Kg. Sungei Tiga’ respectively by Nparks. The first is located near Jalan Wat Siam.
The older one, which is more than a 150 years old, is located at Jalan Batu Ubin. Being small, the plots were a mixture of designs of different eras and generations apart. The cemeteries were closed in the 1990s.
Grave plot meant for a two. Unfortunately, the surviving spouse would be interred in the mainland as the cemetery has been decommissioned.
Some graves may be bare with granite headstones, others are decorated with oxide paint colored tiles that do not fade, showing scenes of tranquility of moutainscapes with flying birds and waterfalls.
There is also a tile which distinct outline of a church. Although Christian and Chinese Toaist graves are segregated, one wonders if a Christian person was buried there.
Are there any Christian graves in Pulau Ubin? The Nature Society once did a survey but did not find any, even going to the extent by asking a Catholic family who lived there for generations. The mystery may be settled, there is indeed one, we have not been looking at the right place, the grave caretaker described it to me and which I am anxious to find out. It may take me a while to post as many interesting events have taken place in May.
