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A few weeks back Mr. Goh called me. He asked me if I was interested in joining him and his team for a few days out to Taiping, Kuala Sepetang and Gua Temperung caves. He had organised an ecology camp (in fact it’s more like a few days to study the ecology in this area) a group of 160 students and teachers from the Green Garden International School.
Not surprisingly then students were enthusiastic about the idea to go into the Gua Temperung cave or in mangrove swamps and the charcoal factory. It was very well organised, despite that the group had to stay in two different hotels. This was in no way a problem in organising activities. Food was excellent, we had a couple of meals in the Soon Lee Restaurant in Taiping, which turned out to be an excellent example of Chinese Malaysian food.
The mangrove forest hold quite a few secrets for the students and Mr. Chuah, owner of one of the charcoal factories was keeping the eyes of the students focused on the charcoal business which turned out far more interesting then many had expected (including me)
Mr. Chuah explaning in the charcoal factory
After 3 intensive but funny days, the students went back to Kuala Lumpur with a lot of new experiences.
The festival is finished now. Until next year the sacred Urn will be with the new Lor Chu. The “old” Lor Chu will still be around in the Tow Boo Kong temple. I spoke to here yesterday, while Mrs. Pearly and I came in the afternoon for a quick visit to shoot a few more photos (“a few” turned out to be over 100).
The festival is over, it’s time to look back. It was such an event. I have to admit, I had no idea about Taoism, and although I have learned something, I am almost as ignorant as before. But I do know something now: the Tow Boo Kong and two other Nine Emperor Gods temples I visited are all blessed with something very special. There is definitely something magic in there.
I had no choice then to write about the temples and the Nine Emperor Gods festival. The last years Lor Chu, Mrs. Girlie was a great help in understanding what happens during the festival. Without her and Mrs. Pearly I would not have been able to understand anything.
And someone asked me, what was the most impressive of the festival? It’s hard to tell. For sure the Tow Boo Kong itself with it’s magnificent architecture was impressive but without Mrs. Pearly and Mrs. Girlie, I would have not enjoyed it as much as I did now. Surely the spear skewering and the firewalk were spectacular. I still can hardly believe what I saw, 9 men with a 9 feet long spear through their cheek and no blood. The baby gods playing with oil was another amazing event.
With a little imagination… a dragon in the air over Penang
But the interview with Mrs. Girlie as Lor Chu was inspiring too. When the gods where send home on the beach of Butterworth, many saw in the boat then burned to ashes a dragon flying high. The truth is… that that evening we saw a cloud formation above Penang that looked like a dragon.
You can read much more at my Nine Emperor Gods page and on my Cheng Kon Sze, an old Nine Emperor Gods temple in Penang page
If that is not enough, Mrs. Pearly wrote a set of pages about the Nine Emperor Gods, the Cheng Kon Sze and the Nine Emperor Gods temple in Kuala Batas. Check her website for more
During the Nine Emperor Festival I was the guest of Mrs. Pearly and Mr. Chandra. They invited me to join them to the , another Nine Emperor Gods temple. I expected something of a similar temple. Nothing could have prepared me for what I would see. The temple itself is much older then the Tow Boo Kong Temple in Butterworth. Many devotees were around during the festival and it was an excellent experience.
The Oil Lamp, 130 years old in Cheng Kon Sze
The temple, though small was in many ways more beautiful then the one in Butterworth. While Tow Boo Kong for sure is more beautiful, and extensive in its architecture, the Cheng Kon Sze is older, one can almost feel the wisdom coming out of the temple. If you have little time, visit this temple instead of any other. Cheng Kon Sze is magnificent.
Living in Malaysia brings many blessings, one of them is meeting people from a very different background as my own. With meeting Chandra and Pearly I had the opportunity to not only visit a few days of a Taoist religiuous festival, but I was also able to get insight information about what the festival represents. And you can trust me in this, this festival for the Nine Emperor God is quite an event.
The Tow Boo Kong Nine Emperor Gods Temple in Butterworth
It all started with bringing the gods from the sea to the temple in Butterworth. The first 2 days I skipped but at the third day I witnessed quite an extraordinary event: medium putting there hands and head (!) in boiling oil. They put it in their mouth and spit it then in the fire. Although I was a few meters away from the mediums and the fire, I could feel the heat of the oil (which was clearly boiling). After the session the oil got further treatments with herbs and then sold to devotees.
If this was exciting and scary, the next day would be even scarier. 9 mediums got in trance and got a 4.5 meter long spear through their cheek. With the spear they would walk around 10 km only to stop at places another medium marked as a place of worship. At such a place a green bamboo stick would be planted as a sign of a temporary temple. Mrs. Girly would do the prayers first, followed by other devotees. The medium, now an incarnation of one of the gods, would continue searching for the next spot.
With the arriving of the nine mediums with the spear skewered through their cheeks more prayers and sometimes even dancing (video of this will appear next week on the Pulau Pangkor website).
During this event, a typical Chinese opera was performed for the deities who were brought outside the temple. The idea behind it is that this way the deities too have their form of entertainment. Every night a Chinese opera is here performed in front of the collected statues of these deities.
I was not a witness of the mediums coming out of trance but I did see the mediums the next day. A small scarf at the right cheek was all that was left (and no blood at all was wasted).
The fifth day was so far the least spectacular. Do I say least spectacular? In fron of the temple a typical Chinese performance of people in traditional customes was performed. It was all about the celebrations this week happening but unfortunately all in Chinese.
The same evening the trustee for next was elected. There were 163 cndidates. The trustee choosen will succeed Mrs. Girly who will be involved in the activities for a total of 3 years. Only after 3 years she may try again but it’s very unlikely a tustee will be choosen again.
There’s much more to tell but it has to wait until the website is update. However, there are some photos I would love to show you.
However, I was the second night at the temple in Butterworth. As we were early I had plenty of time to wander around in the temple and enjoy the architecture of this new temple. The temple was build in 2000 though before 2000 there had been an older temple which was build in the early 1970’s. That temple was build on older structures. Thus, the origins of this temple gofurther back then what you see these days.
As we were early it was also quiet. Chinese people came in for prayers and asked for blessings of the different gods. The way it goes is usually to offer jossicks, a few bows and mumbling prayers. It was already an impressive sight to see so many devotees around.
A few weeks earlier we had the pleasure to meet Mrs. Girly, a Chinese lady who was the trustee of the temple for this year. Mrs Girly is entrusted with the main urn which is sacred to the devotees. In fact, no one is even allowed to see it.
Pearly wrote an extensive and hard to beat page about the Nine Emperor Gods Temple in Butterworth:Pearly’s hard to beat page about the Nine Emperor Gods Temple in Butterworth
Here’s my own page about the Nine Emperor Gods festival
Sabah and Sarawak are not the most well known for their golf sites. Jungle trekking, Mount Kinabalu, Orang Utans, diving are all more known. But both states have some excellent golf courses. Worth to check them out if golfing is what you want.
