#018: to commemorate / 紀念 (jìniàn)

A candle stand in the mountain commemorating the deceased/山上追思亡者的燭台

‘Dodenherdenking’

When you walk on the street in the evening, you can see the flag is at half mast on the fourth of May in the Netherlands each year, in remembrance of the dead during the Second World War. It is called ‘Dodenherdenking’ in Dutch. In Mandarin, those who die for their country can be translated to ‘guöshāng (國殤)’, the character ‘殤’ means “to die young” or “war dead”.

國殤紀念日

每年的五月四日傍晚走在街上，你可以看到國旗降到旗桿的中間的位置，以紀念在二戰中死去的人。在荷蘭文中，五月四日稱為「國殤紀念日」。中文裡，為國捐軀的人也叫「國殤」，而「殤」這個漢字的意思指的是「未成年而死」、「在戰爭中捐軀」。

Terschelling(West-Terschelling) General Cemetery/Terschlling上的公墓

All Quiet on the Western Front

“He fell in October 1918, on a day that was so quiet and still on the whole front, that the army report confined itself to the single sentence: All quiet on the Western Front. He had fallen forward and lay on the earth as though sleeping. Turning him over one saw that he could not have suffered long; his face had an expression of calm, as though almost glad the end had come.”
― Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front

《西線無戰事》

「他在一九一八年十月陣亡，當天整個前線，一片沉寂，故而軍方報告中只短短一句：西線無戰事。
他往前仆倒，趴在地上，狀若在酣睡。將他翻過身來，可看到他應不至於掙扎太久。」
—摘錄自雷馬克《西線無戰事》（譯者：蔡憫生；出版社：麥田）

Be parted by death?

For the Torajans, the line between life and death is not clear-cut. They do not have to be parted with their beloved ones once their heart stopped beating, or even after the funeral. They still get to ‘see’ each other in one way or another. In Ma’Nene, ‘the ceremony of cleaning corpses’, they dig up a dead relative’s course every three year, change his/her clothes, and take picture together.

天人永別？

對於托拉查人來說，生死之間的界線不是很明確的。他們在摯愛的人心跳停止不必與他們永別，甚至在葬禮以後，不管如何也會再「見」的。名為「馬聶聶」中，意思指的是清理屍體的儀式，當地人每三年將已經去世的親戚的屍體挖出來，換上新衣，然後一起拍照。

The unknown tombs at the corner of the Terschelling(West-Terschelling) General Cemetery/Terschlling公墓一隅的無名墓

《Six Feet Under》

While the death festival may sound spooky to many people, it reflects different perspectives of viewing death. It is said that the Torajans view death as ‘a celebration of life’. This concept reminds me of a scene in the TV series, Six Feet Under. A woman who had lost her beloved one went to the funeral home and asked the oldest son of the funeral home about the meaning of death.s