Food on the Table

Food on the table,

For the Gods,
And me.

Chinese festivals are many and varied. Chinese New Year, Cheng Beng, Moon Cake Festival; you name it; there seems to be festivals the whole year round, one for each month even if you consider the one peculiar only to a particular family like prayers to honour the death of family members on the anniversary of their death. Usually, lots of food will be prepared for the occasion and as can be seen, they are not just for the Gods but also for the departed ones. I remember some Chinese complaining about the need to prepare so much food for these special occasions; so much hassles and money spent to get the raw materials, to prepare and to wash up. There were cases of some people saying that it would better to be an atheist or to embrace Christianity and things like that since then there are no such festivals to talk of. Then, of course, these are people who confused cultural practices with religious ones; but all said, I like the idea of so much food being prepared for the Gods or the deceased, for  finally it's the living who would have a fine time dining and drinking.