拜天公

we celebrated the birthday of the jade emperor (天公生) on the evening of the eighth day of the lunar new year (last sunday evening). it was indeed a long a busy day for us, all the preparations, the sugar cane, cooking the meats, etc... it was an annual affair and a grand one indeed. and this was the only time of the year that we would transfer the urn that we use on the family altar for him. and of course, special attention would be accorded to the setting of the altar and all the associated paraphernalia (i understand from mum that the way the altar was arranged was something she learned from my grandparents decades ago. with specific baba influence, i supposed?).

interestingly, from what i read, i realized that many of the practices we do (like starting the prayers at 11pm and ending by midnight, offering of ang ku kuih, tee kueh, sugar canes, etc) are all very similar to what the the hokkiens and the peranakans in penang do! and as to the origins of this celebration, you can read more about it in this link...

haha!

:-)