16th Day of the 8th Lunar Month - the celebrations commences!

Everything is set up at Eng Hoon Street today, as the celebration for the Birthday of the Great Heavenly Sage commences - and it is also the 90th Anniversary of this particular temple.

Something to look out for this time would be the display of a wide range of historic sedan chairs for the temple that have been gifted by devotees over the decades.



The main prayer event for today begins at 4.30pm, if you are in the hood, come by too. Check out the Chinese street opera (Teochew) from this evening!



All are invited - note that the bamboo with the lanterns is a 'signal' to heavenly beings to come join in the festivities.

Tiong Bahru Tours

Geraldene Lowe is offering the following tours for Tiong Bahru, based around the Festival for the Great Heavenly Sage:

23 SEPT Thurs - TIONG BAHRU WALK 2.30 - 5.30pm ending with Monkey God Birthday Procession - great photo opportunites!

24 SEPT FRI - TIONG BAHRU WALK 9.30AM - 12.30 Both Tours meet Holiday Inn Atrium Lobby - visiting Temples, famous Market Best Cake Shop in town - stay on to have lunch and see Opera Performance specially to entertain Monkey God!

Call Geraldene for details - afternoons 67375250 or leave a message and she will call you back.

You can also email her on : geraldenestours@hotmail.com

Do go if you live here, but have not yet been on a tour to understand our neighbourhood!

Enjoy!

Mid Autumn and Birthday of the Great Heavenly Sage

Dear Friends and Neighbours,

once again, the Mid Autumn Festival rolls around, where we make time to mark the harvest, enjoy the beauty of the fullest Moon of the year, and make merry with goodies and beautiful lanterns.



While we no longer have most of the lanterns above - which up to the mid 1980s, were commonly on sale in Singapore, we can think of creating new ones of our own! Apparently such cellophane lanterns are unique to Malaysia and Singapore - and are not seen in mainland China itself.

Related to the season is the main Birthday of the Great Heavenly Sage - more popularly known as 'Monkey God'/'Monkey King' or 'Sun Wukong'.

His main temple in Singapore is right here in Tiong Bahru - the Qi Tian Gong Temple at Eng Hoon Street. This year, the temple celebrates its 90th Anniversary, as the street banner and decorations proudly proclaim.



As with each year, a full programme of entertainments for the Deity has been arranged for the 5 days of celebrations - from 24th Sept (16th day of the 8th Lunar Month) to 27th Sept (20th day of the 8th Lunar Month).

Details of the celebrations can be found on the website of the temple:

www.qitiangong.com.

If you are interested in a colorful folk festival, this is the time to come to visit Tiong Bahru with your camera to capture the festivities! Lion and Dragon Dances, Chinese Opera and Getai!

This is also when a tour by Singapore's noted tourguide - Geraldene Lowe - as featured in the National Day special of the Straits Times this year - will be conducted to share with all who are interested, the history of Tiong Bahru.

p.s. as with each year's festival, it is going to be a lively and somewhat noisy event. If this is not your thing as a new resident, the temple seeks your accomodation and understanding on this matter.

Snatch Theft and other alerts!

Dear Neighbours,

just recently, we have had a report of an attempted snatch theft along Kim Pong Road. An elderly man who was walking with his grandchild was attacked from the back by a thief who ran past and wanted to snatch his necklace.

This happened at about 11.30pm on 1 September.

According to what we were told, the details of the suspect as follows:

Male, in the 20s.
About 1.7m tall, slim build.
Beige t-shirt.
Indian

Fortunately, it seems that the resident and his grandchild were not hurt.

In late August, there were also 2 reports of thefts from the Market - 2 stalls had raw chickens stolen from them between 3.30 to 4.30am.

Unfortunately, there are no details of the suspects in the case of the market thefts.

These events are quite unexpected given that our area has been generally very safe, infact, safer than most other areas.

Do be more careful when walking at night, and if you have elderly relatives, remind them to not wear valuable jewelry on them when not necessary.

Please let us all continue to be vigilant about public safety, and if you see or hear anything strange, call the police, or give shout for help to alert more neighbours! We are all safer when we come together to keep a look out for the safety of our neighbours and friends.

Tiong Bahru Mid Autumn Party and Recycling Exchange

Dear Friends and Neighbours,

This Year's Mid Autumn Festival Party will be held once again at the Seng Poh Garden, (next to Block 48 Moh Guan Terrace).

Date: 11 September (Saturday)
Time: 7pm to 10pm

Tickets at $5 per person

Tickets on sale at the Seng Poh RC every Monday and Tuesday night from 8-9pm.

There will be food, games, lucky draws, and a talk on how to avoid Problem Gambling and avoiding Loan Shark activities.

Once again, there will also be a recycle exchange run by NEA - bring your recyclable items to be exchanged for food items!

The more you bring, the more you have to exchange.

We accept the following items:

Cans, Bottles, News Papers, Old Clothes.

Do make sure that the Cans and Bottles are clean though.

See you there!