Monday, October 15, 2012

Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2012 @ Ampang - Day 1

Today is the first day of the Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2012 at Ampang. So to accompany the pictures of the day are three words that aptly describe this festival:
  1. Wet
  2. Smoky
  3. Crowded
No. 1 - The Nine Emperor Gods Festival is synonymous with rain over here. Before the festival starts, it will rain, after the procession, it will rain. After procession, sure will rain. Before the feeding of the Heavenly Soldiers, it will also rain. Coincidence or otherwise, I let you be the judge. Woke up this morning to the sound of falling rain..See, it is easy to predict when it will rain during the Nine Emperor Gods Festival.
A wet and smoky morning for Ampang. View of the Nine Emperor Gods Temple at Ampang. The rain had just dropped to a light drizzle when this photo was taken (~6.30am) and you can see mist/low lying clouds enveloping the hills behind the temple.

No. 2 is easily understood - will all the joss-sticks and joss paper being burnt, smoke is a signature of this festival. Not only that, the kitchen fires too are well-stoked to feed the huge number of devotees. Which gives good opportunity for photo taking, coupled with No. 3. I just hope that the NOAA-18 satellite does not pick up and mark Ampang as a hotspot...then we no longer can point our finger at Sumatra every time it gets hazy.
Fire! Fire!...Nolah, just smoke from Kow Wong Yeh temple, Ampang.
Ouch, that is a lot of wax on the attendant's hand...Either he is 1. so used to it, or 2. does not feel pain or 3. he likes hot wax play :-p
Rice is nice - offerings on the altar table to the Jade Emperor. "Hmm, just plain white rice? Where is my royal banquet??" said the Jade Emperor.

No. 3 - Unbelievably large numbers of people would turn up on the first day (and most of the days of this festival). This results in long queues of cars and buses waiting to get into the parking lots. Luckily there are ample space available for parking, and if you don't mind walking a bit, more space is available at Bandar Baru Ampang.
I know this is kitsch, but I just can't help myself. Here's a shot of Ampang Nan Tian Gong on the night of the first day of the Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2012 using the camera's Toy Miniature effect filter.
The Door God keeping a watchful eye over the continuous stream of devotees that pour into the temple. He must have a pair of pretty tough eyes not to water and sting with all this smoke floating around.
The queue to pay respects to the Emperor and other deities are usual long, so your patience is very much appreciated.
Gifts for the Emperor - Dragon fruit, persimmons, and flowers...all packed in basket. And just like any VVIP or royalty, you got to wait for your turn to meet and greet the Nine Emperor Gods.
One of the Taoist priest conducting a prayer session. And no, he is NOT, I repeat, NOT giving the finger to the person that stood in front of him.


Posted by at 11:26 PM 0 comments
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Sunday, October 14, 2012

A Royal Invitation - Procession to Invite the Nine Emperor Gods at Ampang 2012

The procession to invite the Nine Emperor Gods is another highlight of the Nine Emperor Gods Festival. Here in Ampang, this event started around 5pm, with the rousing drums and cymbals of the lion and dragon dance troupe that take turns to make the necessary obeisance before joining the queue for the processions. At the same time, more and more dragon joss-sticks and long joss-sticks get lit in the open area, resulting in wafts of smoke that billow pass the temple.
The joss-sticks were lit with the accompaniment of dragon and lion dance drums and cymbals.

Other than the dragon and lion dancers, this processions consist of a few floats, stilt-walkers dressed as characters from Chinese folk tales and mediums in trance representing Chinese deities like the Monkey God, Ji Gong, Guan Yin and Guan Di.
Smoking endangers your health and will make your head swell into a shiny, pink-coloured ball, give you funny eyebrows and blotchy cheeks and a silly grin. So there you go, another reason to stop smoking - the lion and dragon dance troupe getting ready for the procession.

When the magic hour draws near, the drums and bells in the temple would sound, as the temple mediums get ready together with the volunteers who will carry the 3 sedan chairs for the Emperors on their trip back to the temple. To see more photos of the invitation ceremony, do visit Cheryl Hoffmann's site as she got a special invitation to be there at the invitation site by the river.
The urn with the Urn Master and Assistant Urn Master under the yellow umbrella leaves the temple escorted by the medium in trance and a huge entourage of devotees to pick up the Nine Emperor Gods. The sedan chair precedes them in leaving the temple. I will post a video once I am done editing it.
For devotees who are unable to walk the entire procession route, there is a designated spot just a few paces down the road where they can wait for the return of the procession so that they can rejoin the group. And the seats are at....(drum roll please) Ampang Old Folks Home - Hmm, not too subtle if they are trying to hint at that those who wait there are...old.
By the royal decree of the Nine Emperor Gods', let there be light...Hah? Candlelight only meh? No disco lights or strobe lights ah? How to party??

When the Emperors are safely back in the temple, the 9 lanterns are lit and then hoisted up high on the lantern pole that was raised earlier this afternoon. So for nine days, the lamps will be constantly kept lit. This is similar to the practice of having a royal standard/flag raised in the palace grounds when a monarch is residing within the palace.
After the arrival of the Emperor Gods at the temple, the nine oil lamps are lit.
Heave ho...and up you go.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the Nine Emperor Gods are in da house, yeah! So let the party begin!

Posted by at 11:29 PM 0 comments
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Raising the Lantern Pole - The Eve of the Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2012 Ampang

There are two main events on the eve of the Nine Emperor Gods Festival, the first being the raising of the lantern pole and next is the procession to invite the Nine Emperor Gods from a body of water, in this case is the Kosas River.
The crane was up and ready by 10am. Got me out of bed real quick.
Final adjustments to the lantern pole. They need to tie up three different sections to make the final pole.

The activity leading to the raising of the lantern pole usually starts around 10am. The crane that will hoist the pole was already there at the compound at10am. So after a quick brisk walk to get to the temple, I saw that the temple volunteers and staff were making minor adjustments to the various sections of the pole.
Men and woman at work.
Catching up with old acquaintances. Hmm, vertically challenged = bigger lens???
Putting on divine blessings on the pole. If I stick one on my camera will Nine Emperor Gods make me take better pictures??
Even more talisman for the lantern pole. They were instructed to stick it diagonally and not horizontally with respect to the pole axis.

Very quickly the place started to fill up with onlookers and not forgetting the photographers, i.e. the pros. Most of them just go about, taking photos and not talking to the other photographers. But things change when Cheryl Hoffmann (of CJH Photography) turned up. With a friendly smile, her warm and vivacious personality got most of the photographer talking when approached by her.
The Nine Emperor Gods' talisman - got UMPPH one you know!. The bigger one has the names of the Big Dipper Stars on it.
All ready and well protected from any forces of evil.
Up, up and away...

For me this was the first time we met in person; for though we have exchanged many comments on our blogs, we have yet to meet face to face up till now. With good knowledge of the Nine Emperor Gods Festival and the willingness to share, she is one person that you should talk to if you are interested to see and get the feel of the festival in Ampang. Even as she was busy between catching up with old friends and taking photos, she still finds time to give me tips on what to snap and how to do it.
Doing the Gangnam dance??? Maybe Oppa Kew Ong Yeh Style???  No they were just raising the lantern pole.
And his face will attest to how serious these men take their work of raising the pole.
The Assistant Urn Master and the Urn Master. Either they are deep in thought or bored shit...
The Tian Guan (Heavenly Officer Who Bestows Luck) Flag being tied to the horizontal bamboo pole.
Yam Seng...sugarcane drink for the Taoist priest.

When the pole was finally erected and in place, there was a mad dash for the offerings on the table. As usual, clueless me didn’t get any. The aunties and uncles move like athletes on the Olympic track and field event – in a blink of an eye, the bowls were all empty, save for some grotesque looking black ear fungus.
The ceremony took quite a while, so the smaller joss-sticks burnt out.
Partaking in the offerings at the end of the ceremony. Even though I was just by the altar table, I didn't manage to grab anything, with my two hands on my camera.

I also got a glimpse of the dorms and temple rooms courtesy of Cheryl, as she went to check out her room there. It was an eye opener for me as I traversed through the rooms that would have left me lost had she not been for my guide; for those who are MCG members, do check out her guided tour of this temple here – it is definitely worth it. By the time we left temple, it was almost 2pm, just enough time to get some rest before 5pm when the crowd for the invitation ceremony will start coming in.
Catching up with former dorm neighbours. In her own words, it is like summer camp.

PS - the post for the invitation ceremony will be a little delayed due to technical difficulties and work schedule. Serves me right for changing camera two days before the event. Not only do I need to get used to the controls (on camera and CHDK controls), my usual Photoshop tricks would have to be tweaked as well.


Posted by at 11:26 PM 2 comments
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