Sunday the 17th of February 2013 was the 9th day of the year of the snake. The 9th Day of Chinese New Year Festival is the Birthday of King of Heaven aka the Jade Emperor the main deity of Taoism.
This day we went for a walk in Telok Ayer Street, to see if there was any activity in Thian Hock Keng temple. The temple itself was pretty quiet, but it gets us the opportunity to take better notice of the neighboring Yu Huang Gong Temple of Heavenly Jade Emperor.
This temple is actually attached to the Thian Hock Keng temple to the right when you face the entrance. The building has been under renovation for a long time now, and I have not seen any signs that it could be visited. Outside however, activities are regularly undertaken, like of that day.
As explained by the Presentations of Monuments Board Website this building also known as “Keng Teck Huay, was founded in 1831 by Hokkien Peranakan merchants from Malacca . … The rear building still serves as an ancestral hall and the Pagoda is used for the worship of the Jade Emperor, the main deity of Taoism”
So that Sunday a celebration was held outside of the temple, a tent was set-up in the side that goes to the small park to Amoy Street.
We arrived at the point where after prayers the devotees were purchasing (it seems) offerings and bringing them to the place to burn them. Burning the offering send them to the afterlife where ancestors will receive them.
All pictures taken with the Zorki C, with the Industar 50mmF3.5, the rangefinder is still broken so I used the guess-o-meter. You can still spot the flare of the Industar and some potential light leaks.Film was Kodak TriX 400 iso and light measured with Sekonic 380; processing by the lab scanned with Epson v500.
A note for Taoist friends: I just wanted to give here rough indications of what is seen on the pictures and I’m not well versed in your faith. Please fell free to correct or complete the above.
Waex99 PhotoBlog 