All Souls' Day & more

In Western Christianity, All Souls' Day commemorates the faithful departed. This day is observed in the Roman Catholic Church, churches of the Anglican Communion, Old Catholic Churches and to some extent among Protestants. The Eastern Orthodox Church observes several All Souls' Days during the year. The Roman Catholic celebration is based on the doctrine that the souls of the faithful which at death have not been cleansed from venial sins or have not fully atoned for mortal sins, cannot attain the beatific vision in heaven yet, and that they may be helped to do so by prayer and by the sacrifice of the Mass. I recall that when my daddy passed away, the Catholic church near my parents' home arranged for Mass to be said for my daddy every week for one year.

The Western celebration of All Souls' Day is on 2 November and follows All Saints' Day, which commemorates the departed who have attained the beatific vision. If 2 November falls on a Sunday, the Mass is of All Souls, but the Office is that of the Sunday. However, Morning and Evening Prayer for the Dead, in which the people participate, may be said. In pre-1969 calendars, which some still follow, All Souls Day is instead transferred, whenever 2 November falls on a Sunday, to the next day, 3 November, which is the case for this year in 2008.

My family will visit my daddy's niche at the Mount Vernon columbarium in Singapore either on All Souls' Day or, if it does not fall on a Sunday, then the nearest Sunday to it. This is in addition to visiting the niche on his birthday and his death anniversary.

This year, Da and I had signed up for The New Paper Big Walk 2008, which will be held on 2 November 2008. As such, my family agreed to visit daddy's niche at Mount Vernon columbarium on 1 November 2008 instead of 2 November 2008.

The earliest government crematorium in Singapore, situated at Mount Vernon, began operations in 1962 with only one funeral service hall and about four cremations a week. By 1995, it had three service halls and was averaging twenty-one cremations a day, with operations beginning everyday at 9 am with cremations scheduled at forty-five minute intervals until about six or seven in the evening. The site also includes a columbarium built in several phases, comprising niches arranged in numbered blocks which either feature Chinese-style green roofs, or housed within a nine-story “pagoda-style” building. There also exists a two-story “church-style” building.

Towards the end of the 1970s, the Mount Vernon complex, which was initially intended for the storage of ashes from recent deaths, could no longer cope with the scale of exhumation projects fueling the demand for columbarium niches. Another crematorium-cum-columbarium complex was built at Mandai, and this commenced operations in 1982, equipped with eight small and four medium-sized cremators and a total of 64,370 niches for the storage of cremated remains. Chinese voluntary associations such as Pek San Theng were allowed to build columbaria to house the remains of those exhumed from clan-owned cemeteries, and temples and churches were allowed to accommodate cremated remains. At the Holy Family Church located in Katong, the columbarium is situated beneath the church building.

The old Mount Vernon Crematorium ceased operation after last cremations on 30 June 2004. While the crematorium at Mount Vernon will be closed, the columbarium at Mount Vernon will remain and next-of-kin can continue to visit the columbarium. There is still no indication of when the columbarium site is needed for redevelopment into a residential area and a park. When the timing of this movement is firm, the National Environment Agency has said that they will give next-of-kin two years' notice before the relocation of the niches can take place. Meanwhile, the site will continue to be maintained to preserve its serene surroundings.

(Sources:-
(1) Wikipedia
(2) National Environment Agency (NEA) News Release 27 May 2004)

When my family arrived at Mount Vernon columbarium, we noticed that quite a number of niches have been vacated. Perhaps some of the next-of-kin had decided to move the urns without waiting for the public announcement by the National Environment Agency. My family hasn't discussed yet where to move daddy's urn to. There are quite a number of government columbaria to choose from. I read in the newspapers some time ago that at the Kranji columbarium, classical music is played all day. My daddy likes classical music. We will take each day as it comes.

After we left the columbarium, we decided to adjourn to Katong Shopping Centre. Typical of Singaporeans, we wanted to kill many birds with one stone:-
(a) Da had some pants to collect from the alteration shop.
(b) My brother wanted to pass some suits to the alteration shop to alter.
(c) I needed to buy a pair of black court shoes.

Before LSD gasps and wonder why I am buying another pair of black shoes when I had already bought a pair when I went out for dinner with her some time ago, it is because the strangest thing has happened. When LSD and I went shopping at BHG at Bugis Junction the other time, I managed to buy 2 pairs of black heeled Americaya leather shoes from BHG. 1 of the pairs of shoes were court shoes while the other pair were sling-back shoes. Both shoes were of the same size. The odd thing is that while the sling-back shoes fit me perfectly, the court shoes are too tight! I did try both pairs of shoes at BHG and they fit me. However, when I got home, although I wore the sling-back shoes shortly after purchasing them, I did not start wearing the court shoes until recently and I discovered to my horror that the shoes are too tight. Thinking that the shoes are new and I should give them time to "break in", I wore the shoes a few more times and each time I wore them, I ended up with cramps in my feet and corn on my toes. I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that for some strange reason, the court shoes are too tight for me and rather than to continue to suffer in silence, I should buy a new pair of shoes.

While Da and my brother were at the alteration shop located at the basement of Katong Shopping Centre, my mother and I proceeded to the shoe shoe located at Level 3. The shop sells leather shoes as well as non-leather shoes. As I have wide feet, I have learned by experience that I should wear only leather shoes when I am wearing court shoes, otherwise my feet will end up cramped as PVC shoes will not stretch. After browsing at the shop for awhile, I came across a pair of black leather court shoes. They fit me, even without stockings (yes, I wear stockings on work days), so I decided to buy the shoes. As a precaution, I asked the shop owner to stretch the sides of the shoes as well.

After we left Katong Shopping Centre, we decided to adjourn to Joo Chiat area. There is a Muslim confectionery known as "Sha Zah" that sells delicious samosas, curry puffs, curry buns, etc. After driving around in circles, we managed to locate the confectionery along Joo Chiat Road. My mother and I bought 10 samosas each. Again, before BH gasps at the number of samosas that I bought (yeah, they must be fattening, I guess), let me assure her that Da and I had plans to meet up with FIL and MIL and some of the samosas are intended for them.

After Da and I gave my mother and brother a lift to their home, we contacted FIL and MIL and arranged to meet up. We had taken some photographs of FIL and MIL at FIL's birthday party in October 2008 and we had not yet passed to them their photographs yet.

Dinner was at a coffee shop located along Bedok South Avenue 3. We decided to order dry noodles. The shop sells a variety of soup and dry noodles, the most popular being the "bak chor mee".

I did not want to eat the liver nor the pork slices, so I decided to order the meat ball noodles and I passed to Da the minced pork that I found in my bowl.

Each bowl of dry noodles was accompanied by a bowl of soup as well.

Unfortunately, the noodles tasted very flour-like and the Chinese mushrooms had a funny taste. I ate 2 meat balls, 2 slices of Chinese mushrooms and a bit of the noodles. Da finished up the rest of my ingredients but he stopped short of eating my noodles.

As I had barely eaten my dinner, Da suggested that I order some cake from the stall selling Western food. In the meantime, he ordered a hot lemon tea.

I surveyed the selection of cakes before I ordered a slice of cake. When I brought the plate of cake back to our table, Da grinned. My dear Tiki, may I present to you... LEMON MERINGUE PIE! The pie was very light and the lemon portion was tangy but not overpowering.