九皇大帝 Nine Emperor Gods Festival @ Tow Boh Keong Ipoh, Perak
One thing you would probably notice is that devotees of Nine Emperor Gods will offer yellow joss sticks, yellow candles and pink tortoise buns, which you can only see once a year during the Nine Emperor Gods festival. These pink tortoises are actually just plain (no filling) buns and they are offered in pairs, to seek good health, longevity and prosperity.
By the way, although we can find many images and idols of Taoist deities around, no one can tell how the Nine Emperor Gods look like. Even when we offer joss (9 yellow joss sticks) or tortoise buns or fruits, we have to go through the person(s) (white attired) elected to be in-charge of the inner chamber altar. This inner chamber altar is only “open” throughout the day for all nine days.
Anyway, I hope my post has brought you some new knowledge of Tow Boh Keong (Ipoh) and in general, the Nine Emperor Gods. The full address and contact number of Tokong Tow Boh Keong is No. 12, Jalan Tokong, 31650 Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia. Tel: 05-2414042.
For those interested to witness the fire-walking ceremony, it will be held at Tow Boh Keong, Ipoh, Perak on Saturday, 16th October, 2010, the ninth day of the ninth month of the Chinese Lunar Calendar from 5pm to 7pm.
To understand the Nine Emperor Gods better, read up on the legend of the Nine Emperor Gods HERE. Also, if you are Chinese literate, perhaps you would be interested to check out the Sutras of Nine Emperor Gods.
** Source: Here
*for non-Muslims only
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two thumbs up for you emily. a nice job done on the festival. i was thinking of writing one but you did a wonderful job.
i am one ipoh boy but due to work, i can’t make it back to take pictures of the event (very nice photos taken by you).
i will be going to the one in Ampang this weekend, hopefully i can take some pics and write up my experience here 🙂
Thanks for your encouraging words!! The temple in Ampang is going to be very challenging to blog because there will be too many people and difficult to take photos but I will be looking forward to your post!!
I happen to be in Bangkok last Saturday and realized that they celebrate this days in a very grand scale. All eateries in China town sell only vegetarian food.
I took one poster written in Thai and Chinese and the name of the Nine Emperor God is written the same as Malaysia too.
This brought back fond memory of my mother when she was alive. On the approached of lst day of the Nine Lunar month, she kept all the kitchen utensils and took out the one that were not stained by meat. For nine days, all of us had to be vegetarians.
She did not explain why we must be vegetarian, and told us This God brought rain for 9 days and the rain would stop after that. This really happen and I am still amazed by it. Even now, in Cambodia, It has been raining non stop and I was told by the local, this rain will stop on the 9th day of the Lunar month too.
If I remember correctly, On the ninth day the believers sent Him back to heaven by doing the fire walking and only those who are sincere can walk the fire without getting any harm.
Now that I am a Bahaí and my understand is broaden and I believe I understand the meaning of all this better.
Hi Grace,
Thanks for sharing your experiences! I have never been to any Nine Emperor Gods temple outside of Perak and I hope that one day, I can change that! Strangely, it has not been raining too much in Ipoh these past nine days.
Actually, I just returned from witnessing the fire walking ceremony in Tow Boh Keong and hope to be able to find time to blog about it.
Whenever i go home to Ipoh i make it a must to visit Tow Boh Keong. I always have an affinity to the temple. But I know very little. Thanks for posting.
Hi Grace & Charles,
For a deeper understanding of the Nine Emperor Gods, do check out this website:
http://www.nine-emperorgods.org/
This festival has relevance to other ancient traditions such as the Aztecs, ancient Norse, Etruscans and Greeks, all of them had 9 Gods concept that governs and oversees the universe.