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.

The Birthday of Tai Seng Yah - a.k.a. Monkey God

The flags are up along Tiong Bahru and Tiong Poh Road.... pointing to the up coming birthday of Tai Seng Yah - The Great Heavenly Sage, a.k.a. the Monkey God whose temple is at the corner of Tiong Poh Road and Eng Hoon Street.



Yes, flags along roads are a sure sign of a temple festival in Singapore. These flags have peaches embroidered on them, as they are His favourite fruit (and also the fruit that got him in to trouble with the Jade Emperor and his consort long long long time ago....)

This temple is over 80 years old, and the big birthday, on the 16th day of the 8th Lunar Month, just after Mid Autumn Festival is the major event for the temple.

So, if you want to catch sight, or join in the festivities that is a real local folk festival, do take note of the following schedule of events:

Sunday 4 Oct - 3 pm, commencement of festivities, with lion and dragon dances.
The temple medium may be in attendance.
7pm, Teochew Opera nightly

Monday 5 Oct - afternoon and night, Teochew Opera
8 pm, dinner for temple supporters, lion and dragon dance, auction.

Tuesday 6 Oct - afternoon and night, Teochew Opera

Wednesday 7 Oct - afternoon and night, Teochew Opera

Thursday 8 Oct - 8 pm Getai show

Throughout the days of festivities, there is likely to be visiting troupes of Lion Dances who will come to pay respects (representing other neighbourhood temples) in the afternoon.



To read a good description of the temple in the 50s, check out this link to Dr Leon Comber's pioneering work - 'Chinese Temples of Singapore'.

All in all, its a great event for culture and photo buffs - the opera and dances are a sight to behold. The temple has adherents locally, as well as from Malaysia and Indonesia.



And if you are NOT a fan of Southern Chinese Folk Opera, well, its time to spend a few nights in town... :)

Wayang in our Town, for how much longer?

Fellow resident, Wai Kin, caught these performers of an ancient art at last month's birthday of the Monkey God on Eng Hoon Street.

As Wai Kin says: A pity that they are not getting much audience these days - wonder how long more can these troupes keep going ...

Singapore would be a quieter and sadder place when the day comes when there is no more wayang on our streets to mark the temple festivals that, along with all our other vernacular festivals of the various ethnic and religious communities, punctuate the year....

Any ideas from anyone on how to keep this artform alive? Perhaps we can gather the ideas and send them to the National Arts Council....

If you are keen to 'chase' Chinese Temple festivals, here is a useful blog to follow - Chinese Temple Events - very useful for those who want to shoot pictures of the colourful happenings....

Many thanks to Wai Kin for sharing his photos with the blog!