How to Pray to the Deities - A Book on Malaysian Chinese Rituals

Though we can now access a lot of things from and about different countries, in every land, there is that which people from elsewhere might overlook for one reason or another. Primarily, we are all designed to enjoy according to how we’ve been programed early on. Secondarily, we seek, like the famous Mulla Nasrudin story, only within the limited areas of our existing knowledge. 

This habit of ours is most evident in our reading tastes: most of us continue to read “favourite” authors throughout our lifetimes, ignoring vast realms of genres and writings from other continents. At some point in my life I realised that if I went on re-reading Tolkien and Rex Stout and other old favourites, I’d lose out on knowledge about so much else. Perhaps it was easier for me as, from a very early age, I began to select books out of the blue from the libraries to which I had access. It was thus that I drifted through Salinger and Hesse and it was this trait which re-surfaced, later in life, allowing me to transition from fiction to other writings, quite painlessly.

Although at first, in our years in Malaysia, I was hard put to find access to books (India spoils one that way, given our plethora of secondhand booksellers - still true, hopefully), later I found at least one second hand book shop and other ways to get at reading material.

I cannot honestly recall where I bought a book called “How to Pray to the Deities, a compilation of Deities, Myths and Chinese Traditions and Customs”. The book says that I cannot reprint or reproduce any part of the book and I am thus denied sharing the joy of the illustrations with you.

I was often charmed, when observing my Malaysian Chinese neighbours, at how similar their rituals were to our “Hindu” ones in India. Lighting incense, shrines at home and by the roadside, temples and gods/goddesses. 

You can see the red shrines in the houses, one to the left of the white car parked inside the house to the left and the other to the extreme right. 

So, let’s peep into this book through my eyes! Fortunately, I got quite a bit of the book online from a forum:

Traditions & Customs

"As from ancient time, the Chinese rely upon three schools of thoughts as the basis of their religious believes and moral ethics which respectively are the Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. The religious believes and moral ethics provide them with guided principles which they rely upon to attain for themselves confidence and mental strength. Irrespective of the school of thoughts they adopt, applying the fundamental principles of which remain a positive act for them.

Such religious believes and moral ethics have shaped and developed China over thousands of years originated from China's agricultural society. They have now become a part of life for the Chinese."

 It’s interesting that, at this point in time, I’m somewhat engaged in providing some minor help to a scholar who’s doing a comparative study on the mythologies of India and China. It is from her that I've grown aware of the influence of nature and the geographical environment on myths. To return to the book:

The common folks are of the opinion that there is divinity in everything on earth, be it the sun, moon and stars, the river, lake or sea, the creepers, rats and ants, flowers, plant and tree or those activities in daily life such as moving into new house, setting up the beds and kitchen, engagement and marriages, breaking earth for constructions, repairs and demolishing, burials, installing pillars, thanksgiving and venerable ceremonies, sanctifications, prayers for peace and bliss. Prayer to God, Deities and Ancestor all have the objectives of attaining harmonious unity between men and nature.

The above piece further convinces me that our countries are quite similar in terms of many belief systems for the “Hindus” also hold almost everything sacred: flora, fauna, water bodies, celestial bodies, etc. Similarly, too, "Hindus" have ceremonies for various activities of life such as shifting residence, marriage, death, etc.

Since I have not been to China I cannot confirm whether the people there adhere to some or more of the customs discussed in the book. And whether the Malaysian Chinese, like the Indian Diaspora, are more strict in observance than those in the mother countries. Back to the book:

Despites the change in life style and living habits now, the concept behind traditional culture has not faded off, suggesting that aside from blood lineage, geographical, historical and linguistic factors, the Chinese are also placing great emphasis in maintaining their traditional culture.

Offering prayers to venerate Heaven and Ancestor are displays of religious believes. The objectives are in honor, make thanksgiving and give acknowledgement to Heaven and Ancestor and to seek forgiveness and eliminating misfortune. They also pray for prosperity, longevity, peace for the family, seeking bliss, good marriage and a smooth life.

Ancestor worship, however, though also a part of “Hindu” rituals, seems to be more prominent among the Chinese. Let's return to the book:

The methods of prayers and ritual vary from locations to locations, as well as the variance in the offering items. It is common believes that the Deities and Ancestor will shower their blessing and this will subconsciously help to obtain the sense of confidence, wishes are more easy to come by.

The devotees seeking bliss are in fact making vows to the Deities to the effect that when their prayers are answered, they will return with thanksgiving. However, they must seek not to be greedy in seeking for lucky forecast numbers.

“seeking for lucky forecast numbers” refers to a habit which seems to be popular with the Chinese but manifestations of which we also see among “Hindus”, not to mention those of other persuasions: gambling. 

When making prayers, the offering items can include candles, joss sticks, gold and silver incense papers to the relevant Deities and some vegetarian dishes. It is a traditional custom that the selection of the offering items must be appropriate.

According to traditional customs, if a Deities is chosen for worship, the image of the Deities must first be sanctified through a sanctifications ceremony. The idea is to invite divine energy to enter the image for empowerment. A high ranking monk or Taoist master will be invited to perform the ceremony. On the auspicious date and time selected, chanting prayers and reading religious texts will take place followed by dotting the image with cinnabar mixture at the locations between the eyebrows.

This is similar to the “Hindu” custom where the idol must be “sanctified” before it is fit for worship. And “dotting the image with cinnabar mixture at the location between the eyebrows” is very reminiscent of our use of "kumkum".

From a Chinese Temple in Malaysia

The ritual for sanctifications is very complicated in the past with lots of chanting, reading of religious texts, wine offering, burning incense and prayers and lots of kneeling and bowing. Somehow, it has now been simplified to just offering wine in a much modest scale.

There seems to be a new trend developing at present times. The main objective at the ceremony is of lesser degrees in venerating the Deities and Ancestors but rather emphasis is placed on maintaining the continuity of the clan heritage and keeping up with the traditional customs of thousand of years so that the culture will not fade away.

There follow a couple of pages on Taoism with a chart of the various sects of Taoism throughout history.

Traditional Customs & Restrictions On Lunar New Year’s Eve

“Wei Ya”

The 16th Days Of The 12th Lunar Month

By the 12th Lunar month in the ancient agricultural society, people will get ready and make arrangements for the Lunar New Year celebrations. The 16th day of the 12th Lunar month is traditionally known as the “ Wei Ya” festival which business men in particular are placing great importance to. This day they will offer prayers to the “ Deity Of Earth” by giving thanks to the Deities for looking after them throughout the year. They will also offer treat to their employees and giving away lucky draws prizes as an appreciation for their dedications.

Chinese New Year, 2007, Malaysia

The “Deity Of Earth” is considered the guidance as well as their “ Deity Of Wealth & Bliss “ for the business men. The Deity will help them to get rich and so on the day a “ Wei Ya “ prayer ceremony will be offered to the Deity on a scale much larger than those offered in the agricultural sectors. During that night, there will be a big feast for the employees to acknowledge their effort throughout year.

Offering To The “ Deity Of The Kitchen” 

The 24th Day Of 12th Lunar Month

According to legend, the various Deities including the “ Deity Of The Kitchen” will on this day return to Heaven to give an account of their performance on earth to the “ Jade Emperor Of Heaven”. In this connection, every family will be busy preparing to send the Deities off. They will burn incense paper monies to pay for Deities round trip.

Shops like this stock all Chinese religious needs

The “Deity Of The Kitchen” is sent by Heaven to every home to supervise the general affairs in the kitchen. He has to return once a year to report to the Jade Emperor on the 24th day of the 12th Lunar Month. People will make a good variety of offering items and rub honey around the Deity’s mouth to ensure that the Deity will say something sweet or at least to remain quiet if there is nothing sweet to say.

Zao Jun - The Kitchen God - Project Gutenberg eText 15250 - Edward Theodore Chalmers Werner (1864–1954) 

 “Spring Cleaning”

The 238th Day Of The 12th Lunar Month

After sending off the Deities, its time for the big clean up in the house. The altar and the interior of the house must thoroughly be cleansed as many believe that the home will prosper in the forth coming year if the entire house is cleansed and arranged anew.

This is also a "Hindu" custom. Before Diwali or Holi, for example, folks spring clean their homes.  

When the Spring cleaning takes place, everyone in the house is expected to help out according tradition. It is with a view that whatever is not good in the preceding year will be cleansed and swept off. For personal care, cleansing will include washing and cutting hair, taking bath and so on. It is said that by doing this, good luck will pursue in forth coming year with the elimination of sicknesses and mishaps. It is not necessary to wait until the 28th day; in fact spring cleaning can be done on any other day.

Not a very good print but it makes me nostalgic - one hears such tunes in all the malls and everywhere!

New Year Eve

Putting Up The Spring Couplets

In ancient of times the Spring Couplet were originally made of peach wood as talisman to ward off evil spirits. As the evil spirits were afraid of peach wood, people used them to hang on either side of their front door. Nowadays the Spring Couplets are no longer made of peach wood nor used as talisman but rather they are used as art pieces or calligraphy with auspicious lines to greet the spring festival and to express that the New Year will bring happiness, prosperity and away from disaster.

Those in the agricultural sector will normally use Spring Couplets to depict good weather, abundance in harvest, healthiness and peacefulness in the family. For those in the commercial sector, they wish for wealth in abundance and prosperity. For the teachers in the village, they wish for happiness in the family, the children will improve in their studies and with a bright future ahead. For those in the civil service, they wish that their achievements at work will help to glorify their Ancestor and a good ministerial career.

During New Year, every family will change their Spring Couplets to new ones. The red couplets helps to enhance the New Year atmosphere coupled with the auspicious written text, they convey a joyous and meaningful message for the New Year which reflects the people’s aspiration for a good life.

There are observations in the putting up the Spring Couplets. They must be put up on 28th to 30th day so that they are able to receive the blissful energy of the New Year. Some even check the Almanac for an auspicious time.

I'm curious about this Almanac - how much is it similar/dissimilar to the "Hindu" Panchangam?

The character “Bliss” ( Fu ) is cut in various shapes artistically to relate to the form of the birthday peach, a jumping carp, abundance harvest, blessing of the celestial dragon and phoenix and so on. The character “Bliss” is mostly handwritten but now they are ready made and available at the market.

Some like to display the character “Bliss” upside down to indicate that bliss has arrived. However, some see it as toppling the bliss by putting it upside down and it is not good.

Some will not put up four couplets together as the number four has an inauspicious sounding in Chinese. The most favored number is eight as it sounds the same pronounce as “ Rich “.

The Reunion Dinner 

On the New Year Eve, other than putting up the Spring Couplets and decorative items, prayers to the Deities and Ancestor, the most important activity of the day is the New Year’s Eve reunion dinner where family members unite. The significance of the dinner is to get all family members together to signify solidarity in the family. No matter where the members work throughout the year, they must return to join the family for the reunion dinner.

The reunion dinner can only start when all members are present. The members in the family must wait for till everyone returns. In case a member really cannot make it, a pair of chopstick and bowl must be placed for him to signify that the family is still waiting for his return. Traditionally, the longer it takes to finish the dinner the better it is. Some will last midnight. Dishes for the reunion dinner are naturally very lavish and the rich varieties include chicken, duck, pork, fish, waxed duck and vegetarian dishes.

I was happy to note that a great many Malaysian Chinese families routinely have a weekend meal with extended family and some even practice a form of the joint family system.

Each dish is given an auspicious name of which, a big fish is must. It signifies abundance and with remaining every year. Turnip signifies good luck, chives for longevity, New Year cake signifies escalation each year and deep fried puffs are considered as gold ingots to fill the house. These are all considered auspicious food items. After reunion dinner, it is usual to take a stroll at the night market to buy some fresh flowers for the New Year to play up the festive atmosphere.

Observing The Nights 

After reunion dinner and given out the “Hong Bao”, it will be about midnight. The younger generations in the family are expected to stay awake all night which is known as “ observing the night” for the elderly in the family and they cannot go to sleep. This signifies the increase in longevity of the parents. 

Ang Pow or Hong Bao”By Craig (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The elderly observing the night will have the significance of bidding farewell to the year in exit and signify valuing of the passing time. All will not sleep on New Year’s Eve and the lights will be on in continuity till the next morning. Some family will start a special religious prayer ceremony after 11p.m. After which firecrackers will be lighted to welcome the New Year.

It does sound like Diwali!

The Restrictions In Welcoming The New Year

On The 24th Day

Pounding Rice Grains

This day is the day when the Deities return to Heaven which includes the “Deity of the Wind”. If there is pounding of rice grain on this day, the pounding may disturb the Deity and topple him. If this is so, there will be many windstorms in the forthcoming year.

Stirring The Garlic

In some area, people believe that if garlic is stirred on this day, it will upset the cash flow in the house. As garlic is known as “Suan” in Chinese, it has the same sounding as “ calculation”. It is therefore taboo to stir garlic on this day.

On The 25th Day

Collecting Debts

It is a taboo to collect debts from others on this day. As it is close to New Year, repaying debts to others will siphon off the wealth energy of the year. Most people do not wish to talk about debts recovery on this day.

On The 29th Day

Flour Dough Not Rising

On this day, noodles and buns will be made as offerings items for the Deities and Ancestor. It is a taboo if the flour dough does not rise. It signifies that the coming year will not be prosperous. If the flour cracks after baking, it signifies that there will be quarrels and disharmonies in the family. The comforting remedy is to consider that the baked flour is “ laughing” instead of having cracked.

On New Year’s Eve

Sweeping & Discarding Of Rubbish

After the reunion dinner, the New Year will begin, as like New Year day, it is not appropriate to sweep the floor on this day, spill water or discard rubbish. Such acts are considered draining off the wealth, resulting in misery and monetary loss.

Avoid Finishing All The Rice and Fish

Do not finish the dishes completely at the reunion dinner. Leave some remaining especially the rice and fish to signify abundance and with remainder each year in terms of wealth and materials.

Others 

There are many more restrictions on this day. It is a taboo to break glass or ceramic ware; the women are not allowed to use thread and needles; no slaughtering of domestic animals and avoid saying inauspicious words. Basically they are the same restrictions on New Year day.

THE LEGENDS OF “NIAN”

At a Chinese Temple in Malaysia

During ancient times, when poisonous snakes, furious tigers, angry lion were rampant, there was also a monstrous creatures known as “Nian” which was present annually on the 30th day of the 12th Lunar Month to gobble human beings and siphoned their blood. A Deity by the name Hong Jun thought of a way to handle the creature. He tricked “Nian” into gobbling snakes, tigers and lions instead and then rode on the back of “Nian and escalated into the sky.

While leaving, the Deity told the common folks that on the 30th day of the 12th Lunar Month, they must stick red papers on their doors and light firecrackers. This was because the red colour and the noise of the firecrackers will frighten “Nian”. Later people wrote some auspicious words on the red paper which later transformed into Spring Couplet. When they meet up on the New Year day, they congratulated ( Gong-Xi Gong-Xi ) each other for having been spared by the “Nian”. They rejoiced over not having been gobbled by the creatures and that is how “Guo Nian” ( celebrating the New Year ) began.

CNY, or Chinese New Year is a great time to be in Malaysia!