Just returned back from Teluk Intan where I attended my grandma's funeral (mother's side) A bit weird cause just 10 days ago my uncle (also mother's side) passed away and my mom had to go back there.
My grandma's death was quite a sudden one so it was quite unexpected to everyone. But i was nvr really close to her due to my lack of linguistic skills. Anyway, I learn quit a bit about chinese funeral this time.

Clothing

• Black shirt n pants is for the daughters and sons. They also attach a piece of straw with black cloth on the right hand sleeve.
• The grandchildren with the same family name would wear white t shirt and black pants with the same straw and black cloth but with an additional blue cloth over it on their right hand.
  
• Grandchildren who do not have the same family name will wear blue shirt and pants with a blue piece of cloth on their right hand.
  
• Any granddaughter who has married will have another red piece of cloth on top of the other pieces.
• Great grand children will wear green shirt and clothes with a red piece of cloth on their right side.

Praying

• Praying will usually last for 4 days were the 5th day will be the funeral. Praying is done at night, where each relative who attend will have to hold 2 joss sticks (representing my grandfather and grandmother since both have passed away) and follow the nun's prayer. This prayer will involve walking around gods and goddesses alters and the coffin. Will start at 8-12 (with 30 mins breaks in between)
• There will be burning of paper money throughout the whole first 4 days. The burning must not stop so relatives will usually take turns to burn the money. There are many different types of money. One will look like long strips of white paper with cutouts. These represent coins. Another will look like a gold square in the middle of a yellow paper and another is a silver square in the middle. The former is more value than the latter with both representing paper money. There is also a yellow paper with a hand on it and some writing. I always thought those were prayer scriptures. Actually, according to my cousin, those are like cheques signed by the Emperor. With this paper, you can request for anything in the afterlife. The last are hell money. These will resemble modern day banknotes xcept will be printed hell on it. This is for the deceased to spend the money in hell. According to wikipedia, it's for the deceased to bribe the hell ruler to let them go to heaven. Or something like that.
• On the night of the 4th day, we will burn all the paper money which are folded to resemble olden day money (looks like a cup with a bump in the middle) and also other stuff like paper car, paper tv, etc. Before burning, everyone must form a circle around the paper stuff and walk round pouring water around it. Then when the fire starts, all of us must link hands to form a circle and must not break the circle. This, is the hardest part. Since we were quite close to the fire, it felt like the heat was burning our hands and face... It was seriously damn hot. But if you break the circle, the deceased might not get everything that you burn.

Funeral day

• The husbands of the daughters must wear a red banner (with white cloth underneath) across their chest (ala miss universe) and tie a yellow ribbon around their waist. They will also carry a black umbrella.
  
• The people leading the funeral procession will be the sons and the eldest grandson.
• The procession will start when the coffin is loaded into the kereta mayat. Then, all the relatives will follow the car and walk till we reach a point. (i think in the olden days, we would have to walk all the way to the burial grounds barefooted) Then, we will head to the burial grounds with car.
  
• When we are there, it depends on whether the deceased will be burned or buried. Anyway, all the white colour stuff we have must discard it into the grave or burning area. (like white socks or white cloth (white shirts no need to burn la....)
  
• Oh, all the cars who head to the burial place must tie a red ribbon on their car. The fate of the red ribbon is somehow disputed though... some say we must tie the ribbon at the gate for good luck while others say we must discard it to avoid bad luck. Anyway, my mom decided to discard it.
• After the funeral, all attendees must walk over fire and wash their face with flower water to avoid bad luck.

Misc stuff

• The daughters and sons are not supposed to wash their hair during this period.
• During prayer, the joss stick must be carried about eye level
• Before the coffin is closed, we have to lay paper money on the deceased and place jewelry.
• In my other grandma's funeral, (above) was not done but the husband had to place a pearl on the lips. After that, everyone took turns to say their last words to the deceased.

So that is all.... still quite exhausted from all the travelling. To make things worst, i had a bad case of food poisoning before returning home.Have to finish physics and chem practical report, class profile and chem source all before thurs.
Oh, and i still owe pei chern a drawing to repay 40 cents.... so sad le have to keep borrowing money. Somemore i feel very bad when ppl say i don't need to return them.
Luckily I can draw to compensate them (well... my drawing should be worth at least 40 cents....)