Nine Emperor Gods Festival: 2015

Monday, November 30, 2015

Miracle at Bachang, Melaka.

A dragon head was captured in this 2013 picture on the Nine Emperor Gods Festival at a temple at Bachang, Melaka.

Monday, October 26, 2015

Devotees

Talk about faith! Indded, these faithfuls walked all the way from Raja Uda temple to Pantai Bersih barefooted - literally walking the talk ! Blessed be!

These young ladies are also walking the talk - and they are young ladies!

Spiritual friendship goes a long way - literally.

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Sending off the 9 Emperor Gods - Raja Uda old temple

It's a grand sendoff, as grand as befits a royalty. Clashing cymbals, drumming, flag bearers, title plaques, the crowd - all adds on to the grandeur of the procession.


The 4WD, with a banner bearing the 9 Emperor Gods' title (九皇大帝) lead the procession.

The drummers, plaque and flag bearers trail closely behind.

Clashing cymbal announcing the presence of the gods.

Flags add on to the festive mood of the procession.

Colourful floats sandwiched in between the main entourage and the devotees.

A sea of white clad devotees follow closely behind the entourage.

Devotees start flooding into Pantai Bersih as soon as the main entourage bearing the title plaques, cymbals and drums reached the prayer site.

The Ong Chun : the Royal Barge

皇船

Good luck to punters :)

The Royal Barge is made of paper. Due to its delicate nature, it is lifted by crane to the offering site.

No idea what this horse is supposed to represent, but I have seen devotees touching it for blessing.

Before the send off, the horse, which is also made of paper, is loaded on the ship.

A sea of devotees surrounding the boat and other paper offerings.


All offerings are arranged before the sending off. All the offerings are set ablaze to send the 9 Emperor Gods back to their heavenly abode. Among the items to be set ablaze are effigies to replace the devotees in times of trouble.

These devotees lighted huge joss sticks for the sendoff, that perhaps could be a thanksgiving offering.

3 joss sticks and a stalk of chrysanthemum are placed at the beach to pay homage to the 9 Emperor Gods for the last time before the sendoff.

Devotees kneel in homage as the Royal Barge and other offerings are set ablaze.

Some are busy snapping pictures to be uploaded on social media :)

The down to earth devout and the social media addicts do mix during this sort of events.

A devout devotee kneels in homage before the burning offerings and surrounded by joss sticks and flowers left behind by other devotees.

Joss sticks, flowers and burning offerings.

Sight behold!

As the blazing offerings turn to ash, the flames slowly going off, the 9 Emperor Gods finally return to their heavenly abode. The devotees too return home to symbolically break the vegetarian fast by taking a simple non-vegetarian meal.

And this is how I ended my vegetarian fast :)

Many hands make work light

Stacks of joss paper are folded by ad hoc volunteers, made up of devoteees.

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Tao Boo Keong, Kepala Batas

Tao Boo Keong, Kepala Batas, Pulau Pinang - Malaysia

I went to the temple with the intention just to snap a few pictures. As I'm still in mourning (my mum passed away last year, 2 days after the previous 9 Emperor Gods Festival. Many people, including my relatives told me as tradition dictates, I'm not suppose to join in the festival as people who are in mourning state are impure.

Well, as fate would have it, as I moved around snapping photos, careful to avoid ritual grounds, a friendly temple committee came along and talked to me. He ushered me into the temple and told me this temple allows even those in mourning to come and pray as long as its over 100 days. Not much restrictions with exception to a few sites, only accessible to those who are pure. Those in mourning are also not allowed to tie the piece of ritual cloth around their wrists, symbolizing their commitment and purity during the festival. Interesting! So with that, I happily performed my prayers there.