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 :)