It has been one week since the earthquake struck west-central China and left so much destruction in its wake.
As a way to mourn the victims around the nation, the government ordered a nationwide 3 minute ‘pause’ in remembrance of all those who died.
I expected it to be a quiet 3 minutes, and was very surprised to hear sirens and car horns start going off all around town. I realized very quickly that this must be the Chinese custom for ‘mourning’; make a lot of noise to drown out the sorrow?
A couple of other news stories and blogs reported the same thing:
“Suddenly, the horns of vehicles parked nearby started to sound and I remembered that the nation was to come to a halt for three minutes to commemorate the tens of thousands of victims of the May 12 earthquake exactly one week after it occurred. Soon, the ambulances began to sound their sirens as well. It was cacophonous.”
“Air-raid sirens and the horns of cars and buses sounded in memory of the dead.”
I am reminded of the Chinese custom of setting off fireworks for any sort of special occasion, even at times for a funeral. It is an old Chinese custom that I believe comes from the belief that the noise scares away the evil spirits.
It definitely felt weird for one accustomed to having a “moment of silence” to commemorate the dead, instead of a “moment of noise”.
Ben, this is a precious picture. I can harding look at it without tearing up. What an inocent child in a sea of turmoil.
Dad
Ben,
What a precious adorable picture of that sweet innocent baby. When I first heard of the earthquake in China, I immediately thought of my nephew Charlie over there. I e-mailed my brother Bill who responded back that he had not heard from him,but thought he was okay. This earthquake will be easy for me to remember because it happened on the day of the 10th anniversary of my Dad’s passing. My thoughts and prayers are with all who have suffered losses of loved ones, material things,etc.
Cousin Cheryl