A new state historical marker is coming to Milwaukee’s Forest Home Cemetery. It recognizes an ancient Chinese tradition called tomb sweeping.
Anna Moy Wong is a member of the Wisconsin chapter of the Organization of Chinese Americans. She shares how people practice the tradition.
"You honor your loved one by bringing them food or money or some of their favorite things," Wong says. "Just like any other memorabilia — things that I think others would do at a memorial service."
The OCA and other community groups are collaborating with the Wisconsin Historical Society to create 12 new historical markers that focus on underrepresented topics.
The tomb sweeping tradition began about 2,500 years ago during the Zhou Dynasty. Wong explains its origins.
"People would be going up the mountainside to sweep the tombs because that’s where they were buried," she says. "That tomb sweeping is significant of honoring because you’re cleaning out their gravesite. They actually go there, they celebrate it, they talk about their families and then they actually have a picnic there."
The Forest Home marker will be placed in Section 48 at the cemetery, where over 200 Chinese immigrants are buried. Many of the early gravesites belong to single men. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 prevented Chinese marriages and their families from emigrating. So, they died as bachelors.
The historical marker explains that as families visit graves, they place flowers, food and drinks, burn incense and paper money and bow three times. These acts honor family heritage and represent the continuity between generations.
There are over 600 Wisconsin historical markers throughout the state. This is just the second that recognizes Milwaukee’s Chinese immigrants. The first Chinese historical marker was installed last fall outside the YWCA on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. It highlights the city’s Chinese Laundry Era, which provided a pathway for Chinese families to succeed in America amid racial tensions and job scarcity.
For Wong, this new marker signifies the cultural importance and education of Chinese traditions.
"And allowing that to be part of the fabric of what cemeteries are, because I think the Forest Home Cemetery have been very conscientious in honoring all the ethnicities that are in town," Wong says.
In the coming weeks, the marker will be installed in a section of the cemetery near West Cleveland Avenue.
