HOKKIENS thronged the morning markets in Klang over the
weekend to buy sugar canes to prepare for the celebration of the
Jade Emperor’s birthday (Thian-nee Kong Seh). The celebration
begins tonight after 11pm and continues into the early hours of
tomorrow, the ninth day of the lunar new year.
One of
the most important celebrations in Chinese culture, the Jade
Emperor’s birthday is touted as grander than the first day of the
Chinese New Year as it is like a thanksgiving celebration.
More-over, it also marks the New Year for the Hokkien
community.
Klang Hokkien Association Culture Committee chief Shi
Lee Meng, 60, said sugar canes were an integral part of the
thanksgiving prayers and seeking blessings for the year ahead.
“Sugar cane (kam chia) in the Hokkien dialect
sounds like thank you (kam siah) and it is auspicious. A
pair of sugar cane is a must when celebratingThian-nee Kong
Seh. It will be propped up or leaned against the gate of the
main entrance to the house. The sugar cane leaves are burnt along
with the yellow paper (kim jua) which is burnt with the
paper replica of Thian-nee Kong’s heavenly house,” he added.
According to ancient folklore, people of the Hokkien
province in China were under bondage to demonic forces and didn’t
have the opportunity to celebrate new year for a long time until
one year, on the eighth day of the lunar new year, when the Jade
Emperor of Heaven came at midnight and liberated them.
During
the cosmic battle between the Jade Emperor and the demonic forces,
the Hokkien people hid in the sugar cane
plantations.
Following the victory over the demons and their
liberation, the Hokkien people came out to celebrate the new year
for the first time, thus the thanksgiving.
Shi said the people wanted to give thanks to the Jade
Emperor and also honour him on his birthday on the ninth day of the
lunar new year but didn’t have anything to worship with.
“Sugar canes were used as their offering to the Jade
Emperor. From that first worship ceremony, they continued with the
tradition of using sugar canes to thank the Jade Emperor on the
eighth night of the lunar new year,” he added.
Syarikat Perniagaan Soon Poh Sdn Bhd based in Klang,
which sells prayer paraphernalia, said business was brisk.
Trader Lim Hoot Kong, 57, said some people had even
requested for specially crafted “houses” that were 3m high. Owen
Lee, 28, a Subang Jaya resident, said he chose to come to Klang to
get the cardboard houses as it was much cheaper compared with the
prices in Kuala Lumpur.
“In Kuala Lumpur, an average size replica of the house
costs RM500 but in Klang it is sold at RM308 only,” he said.
Lim said apart from the heavenly house, he
sells ngor siew th’ng (pink pagoda-shaped
candies) as offerings to the deities.
“Despite changes, younger people still follow this
tradition as a majority have a noticed a steady growth in business
and improvement in things for the particular year when offerings
are made to Thian-nee Kong,” he said.
http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2012/1/30/central/10562152&sec=central
A life as hard but as sweet as
sugarcane
At the stroke of midnight, the ceremony begins -- today it is
marked by blasts of firecrackers although this had never been a
mandatory feature.
The Hokkien give thanks to the Jade Emperor or
"Thnee Kong" for the blessings of the past year and ask for a
smooth year.
It is said that if the children were to stay up and offer prayers
to the Jade Emperor, the parents would be blessed with a long and
healthy life. This belief, I think, is deeply rooted in the
practice of filial piety.
The sugarcane is high on the list of items sought by the Hokkien on
this day.
A pair of freshly harvested plants, complete with stalk, roots and
leaves, can fetch many times its regular price, and this is the
time the sugarcane planters make a killing. If you are wondering
where the term "sweet harvest" came from, wonder no more.
According to popular folklore, a cruel king once ruled the Hokkien
in ancient China. The tyrant ordered an ethnic cleansing, but
the Hokkien got wind of it and sought refuge in the sugarcane
fields, from which they emerged on the eighth day, unharmed by the
departed army.
I was, however, told a different tale by my elders when I asked
about the significance of the sugarcane when I was a
kid.
Their story is more realistic, I think.
Sugarcane plants symbolise life and the resilient spirit in every
one of us, they told me.
You will detect some truth in this if you observe the sugarcane
plant closely. The plant may look slender but its roots are strong.
The stem is tough but flexible enough to bend with and not be
easily broken by the wind.
If you have ever chewed on the sugarcane, you will recall that you
had to strip the bark with your teeth before you could take a bite
of the crunchy stem. You also had to work your way through one
tough node after another in order to savour the sweet juices.
All of these reflect the cycles of life and the hardship and ease,
my elders said.
One will appreciate life's sweet rewards if we have tasted
the hardship.
Of course, you can argue that these days, you do not have to work
up a sweat to satisfy a sugarcane juice craving. Mechanical
crushers and juicers have taken the load off your jaws.
But you don't need me to tell you that things gained without any
work are likely to be lost just as effortlessly.
"Easy come, easy go" can be a hard lesson to learn -- and all
too often, learnt too late.
http://www.nst.com.my/streets/central/a-life-as-hard-but-as-sweet-as-sugarcane-1.39021
I wish all Hokkiens a Happy New Year. Huat All
the way this year!