April 5th every year is a public holiday in Taiwan so that everyone can observe Tomb Sweep Day. On this day the family goes to the tombs/graves of their ancestors to clean them and place flowers. Prayers and offerings are made to the ancestors and there are the inevitable fireworks to keep away bad spirits, or disgruntled spirits, pissed off at being ignored by their families, or spirits who no longer have families to take care of their tombs.

In common with many other ancient cultures, ancestors and ancestor observance have much to do with a Chinese person's world and life view. Respecting ancestors is an affirmation of the respect due to living elders and parents. Like all forms of religion, controlling potentially wayward youth and ensuring that the elderly are still esteemed when they have passed their used-by dates, is an unstated or unacknowledged key to this practice of ancestor observance.

The threat of invoking ancestor anger, which could be demonstrated in a range of misfortunes, ranging from kicking your toe to an unhappy relationship, keeps potentially deviant youth in line. "You see, I told you something bad would happen if your dead father saw you disobeying me and now look, your new haircut looks miserable!"

Children are bound to their parents and subsequent parental control, in part, due to this religious ancestor observance. Forget the threat of hell after death, which does not exist in Toa-Buddhist Taiwan, except if returning in the next life as a dog is hell - the threat of hell through constant misfortune is a part of this life, here and now. And it is the ancestors who largely control the level of misfortune one is subjected to.

Hence the booming trade fortune tellers do in Taiwan. Everyone is trying to find a way out of hell. Pick a number.

4 April 2002

Dion Marc Delport

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