REMAINS RELOCATION

Mei (Not her real name) called me two weeks ago enquiring about relocating her grandfather's remains.

She sounded like it needs to be done fast. She was concerned that her grandfather's grave maybe affected by the rapid development at that area and those graves around the area where her grandfather was buried during 1945 Japanese occupation time were not prominently identified. The family does not want to take chance and wish to have the grandfather relocated as soon as possible.

We quickly worked on her request by choosing an auspicious day based on their dates of birth of those who are participating in the relocation matters. This is to avoid "clashing of bad luck" on the relocation day.

Two weeks later, we headed over to the grounds together with a Cantonese Nammo Sifu.  Prayers were conducted on site to "invite the deceased to rise" and Master Yap, our relocation master and his workers began with the earth breaking ceremony.

Reaching into the casket took only about half an hour's time and Master Yap started to retrieve the bones that was buried for more than 70 years.  To our surprise, a pair of shoes were even found underground together with fragments of bones that were very much intact, including the skull and its lower jaw with teeth.

The family was very happy as they did not expect to find anything since their father/grandfather has been buried for such a long time.  

Master Yap later carried out a proper burning of the bones and transferred them into a marble urn before letting Mei's father carried to Nirvana Shah Alam Memorial Park for the installation at Ming Palace 1 columbarium.  

On arrival at Nirvana Shah Alam, the Cantonese Nammo Sifu conducted the installation prayer together with "Wong Bei" (House Warming/Prospering the tomb) ceremony which signified the completion of the Deceased's new home.  The normal "Wong Bei" ceremony is usually done within the next 100 days after the installation of the ashes as lead time to complete the plaque's photo requires minimum 45 days.  This way, we saved the family from returning for a second round prayer. 

It was a successful exercise involved much planning and working before hand in order to ensure a smooth run of the entire process. With much dedications, we made the family very happy by seeing the relocation of their loved one completed without a hitch.