they say that a man's soul returns to his house on the seventh day after his death. tomorrow will be the seventh day.

at one of the memorial services - there were three for each night of the wake - and then one at the funeral - one of his goddaughters said, about a teddy bear that was sitting on the casket, that we’re not going to put it in the coffin because he always promised he will come back to see us and when he does he will want to see this bear.

she also sang a song from a musical? movie? i didn't catch which - but i gathered it was about a dead father who returned to help his daughter through a difficult time.

singapore, christian, teochew beliefs and rites and superstitions - all mixed up in this funeral. the wake was held in the void deck, and there was the plates of peanuts and sweets and aqua water and red threads, but there was a cross over the casket and an anglican service in the evenings - and the memorial speeches which are derived from western funerals - and the pomegranate leaves teochew. and we expect his return on the seventh day and wonder about the black moth that had fluttered in. we need to accept them all as if there is no conflict.

i don't believe the black moth was a visitation from the dead. but somewhere in me i hope it was.