Plenty to buy for Jade Emperor’s birthday
- Jayne Loo
- Jul 4, 2022
- 3 min read
JAYNE LOO
EVERY year, the Hokkien community celebrates the birthday of the Jade Emperor, also known as the God of Heaven, on the ninth day of Chinese New Year.
A visitor to Yap’s shop looking at ‘pineapples’ made from folded joss paper.
Legend has it that the Hokkien people were constantly at the mercy of the Mongols in ancient China. During one attack, the Hokkiens hid in sugar cane plantations and on the ninth day of the lunar year, they emerged unscathed and praised the deity for protecting them.
The Jade Emperor’s birthday is also regarded as Hokkien New Year.
Festivities usually start on the night of the eighth day of Chinese New Year when Hokkien families offer prayers, place various offerings to the deity on a ritual table in front of their homes and light firecrackers at midnight.
Among the offerings are dishes like roast pig, braised vegetables and red fermented bean curd which are prepared a few days ahead. Pineapples and sugar cane stalks are also offered.
Leading up to the celebration, stores that sell prayer paraphernalia will receive many orders for ritual items.
“It’s important to get the correct items for the ritual prayers,” owner of 168 Cheras Joss Stick Trading Yap Wei Keong told StarMetro. “Usually, my long-time customers will ask me to prepare everything for them.
“The most important items you have to get for the traditional ritual are the ‘heavenly house’ (thnee kong tnua) gold joss papers, sugar pagoda (t’ng tak), candied fruit, the ‘emperor’s clothing’ (red tablecloth for ritual table) and ‘pineapples’ made from folded gold joss paper.
“Some customers also reserve big paper boats to burn after the prayers in the hope of a smooth year,” said Yap’s sister, Yukki.
“Each item has its significance for the Jade Emperor’s birthday so it’s important to get them all.”
One of the shop’s customers said she would usually buy the items a few days ahead.
At the shop in Batu 11 Cheras market, university student Choi Yim Xin said offering pineapples and sugar cane stalks for the Jade Emperor’s birthday was important.
“People believe that pineapples symbolise prosperity and bring luck to people, especially business owners.
“The tradition of the sugar cane stalks harks back to the legend of how the Hokkiens were saved by sugar cane plantations so that’s why we always make sure we have them every year.”
She said she and her family would perform the prayers every year and enjoy a feast with neighbours and friends.
Also seen shopping at the market was Yulie Sutanty, who is Indonesian of Hokkien descent.
“I usually prepare braised vegetables, red fermented bean curd with glass noodles, mushrooms, dried squid and other ingredients.
“On the ritual table, I will place fruits like banana and longan,” said the café owner who was accompanied by her daughter.
“Today, I came to buy Huat kueh (small steamed ‘prosperity’ cakes) for the prayers. We already bought sugar cane stalks at another place yesterday and it sold out fast.
“As Hokkiens, we celebrate this every year and we make sure our preparations are complete even though we celebrate it on a small scale,” she added.
Ng Wan Oh, 55, a regular at the market, also shared that he and his family would usually spend two to three days before the celebration stocking up on items needed for the offerings such as fish, roast pigs and fruit.
“It takes us days to buy everything we need for the prayers and probably a couple hours of preparing the food and setting up items like incense, candles and most importantly the ‘heavenly house’ for the Jade Emperor,” he said.
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