AnnaYang

農曆 8 月 2 日是我公公的忌日。我先生的大哥、大嫂、大姐從台北回來拜拜，我夫家彼此的感情還不錯，對長輩也很孝順，感覺真的很好，或許也是很難能可貴的，在鄉下，大多數人都很遵循傳統文化，特別是和孝順有關係。祭祖是中國人最重要的事情，公公忌日祭拜的日子更是大日子。

On the 2nd day of the 8th month of the lunar calender, the day was the anniversary of my father-in-law’s death. My sister-in-law and brother-in-law came back from Taipei to worship their father. In the local country, villages tend to comply with the traditional cultures, especially the things about filial piety. Ancestor worship is the most important thing for Chinese people, the deceased father without exception.

自從公公去世後，每年的這個週年紀念日，幾乎全家人都會老家祭拜。我喜歡我們家庭成員之間很緊密的關係。婆婆準備了十多道菜的飯菜，新鮮的水果，公公生前最愛的高粱和香煙。今年我們還叫外匯，就是怕煮太多太累，但是仍一樣，東西多到滿出來，我們把食物和祭拜相關的線香、金紙，放在公公的牌位前、然後燒香拜拜。我們燒了很多金紙給他。

Since he passed away, every year on this anniversary date, almost all family members have come home. I loved the strong bond among our family members. My mother-in-law prepared over a 10-course meal, fresh fruits, a cup of wine and cigarettes for her loved one. We also ordered the cater to present the overload foods. Then, we put patters of food in front of his memorial tablet and burnt the incense sticks. We also burnt a lot of joss paper to our dad so that he could have money to use in his afterlife.

忙完拜拜，時間已經到中午了。隨後，發生了一件很有趣的事情。三個陌生人和兩個朋友們前來拜訪，他們帶著兩份水果禮盒，原來今天是來說媒的，對象是我大哥的女兒，他們倆家小孩認識交往十年了，雙方家長似乎是初次見面，一起吃午飯後，酒是很好打破沉默的工具。雖然雙方都露出幾分尷尬。不過今天當媒人的朋友，很努力想要帶氣氛，他講了我侄女和她男朋友的童年，還反覆自嘲。氣氛很隨意。但我知道兩方都很緊張。

After the worship ceremony, it was at noon, An interesting thing took place. Three strangers with 2 friends visited us. They brought 2 gift boxes wearing colorful clothing. It probably something happened. it turned out that they came to ask for my brother-in-law’s daughter’s hand. Actually, we all knew about this matter in advance. Today was the first time that boy's and girl's parents have met. We sat in the dining room eating the lunch together. Why did we prepare so much food was to welcome our guests. The liquor was a good activator to break the silence. Though a little bit of embarrassment crept on their face, our friend being a matchmaker today expressed his cheer-up skills by talking about my niece and her boyfriend’s childhood and laughing at himself repeatedly. The atmosphere was casual. But I knew the main roles were nervous.

“我們會支持他們的婚姻，也保證會照顧好你的女兒。”未來的婆婆說。他們絕對會有一個好的開始。我們能做的就是等待關於他們浪漫求婚的好消息。. 

“We definitely support their marriage, we promise to take care of your daughter.” the future mother-in-law said. They will definitely get off to a good start absolutely. What we could do was to wait for good news about their romantic proposal.