Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Hainan 2006: Firecrackers cracking

In the afternoon of 9 Nov 06, my parents and I touched down at Meilan Airport. My father's younger brother, Uncle Wang welcomed us at the arrival hall. It was very nice of him to bring along herbal drinks and glutinous rice balls for us.

We then took a taxi to village which is my father's hometown, the place where he was born and raised. On the way to the village, I felt so tired that I did not bother to take much look at the scenery. All that I had wanted to do was to close my eyes and to rest.

Before I knew it, we reached the village. I stepped into the house which I was told that my late paternal grandfather had worked hard to earn enough money so as to engage people to help build it. I met two of my paternal aunts and my grandmother. I remember that my grandmother wore a bright smile when we greeted her.

It might have a practice to celebrate a joyous occasion with firecrackers. Firecrackers were lit to welcome us home; Firecrackers were lit before the thanks-giving ritual that took place in the wee hours of 10 Nov 06; Firecrackers were lit after the ritual was completed; Firecrackers were lit to bring out the joyous mood.


Remains after a firecracker display on Day 1.


I did not realise how loud firecrackers can be until I was at Hainan about a week ago. To welcome us, my uncle took out firecrackers, lit them, and the firecrackers started cracking. The sound emitted was very loud.

For the first and second day of my stay at the village, there were more firecrackers being lit. These firecrackers were certainly attention-seeking, in my opinion. I think the entire village could hear the occasional sounds of the firecrackers during the two days that we were at the village.


Day 2



A curious boy looking at the firecrackers, before the firecrackers were lit.


Firecrackers. These are novelties to me as the use of firecrackers is highly restricted in Singapore. I can't help but to feel a little fascinated, and at the same time, fearful of being too close to the cracking firecrackers.

1 comment:

oceanskies79 said...

SA: Yes. Supposedly, they were meant to scare away the evil spirits.