Bai-San ("The Little Piece of Madeleine"), 22.06.2008
Bai-San:
cantonese. literally translates to "worshipping mountains", but in fact has nothing whatsoever to do with worship or mountains. an act of paying respect to the dead, where the living go to the grave of the dead and bring along food, usually food that the deceased liked or should have had more when alive. based on the belief that "even though people are dead they still need to eat!".
when i was a child i went Bai-San three times every year with my family and extended family.
I bought a bag of Madeleines from Zurich.
I flew to Paris.
I went to the Cimetiere du Pere-Lachaise on Sunday morning.
I found the grave of Marcel Proust by intuition, having looked at the map only once.
I put a Zurich Madeleine for Proust on his grave.
I ate one Madeleine there as well.