Yet Another Year of Quiet Prayers behind Closed Doors - the Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2021

Yes it is almost time for Nine Emperor Gods Festival again, as it is just 6 more days before the festival begins. This year the festival begins on the 6th of October 2021 (1st day of the ninth lunar month) and ends on the 14th of October 2021 (ninth day of the lunar ninth month).

 

However, the festive atmosphere here in Malaysia is again missing this year as many temples here have either opted to hold simple ceremonies or to make the prayers a private affair only for the temple committee and senior members.

In fact almost all of the famous Nine Emperor Gods temples in Klang Valley are holding the prayers behind closed doors, for example Ampang Nan Tian Gong temple, Jinjang Bei Tian Gong temple, and Sg.Way Leng Eng Tian temple; the main reason being to prevent large crowds of devotees from thronging these temples, thus making adherence to Covid-19 SOP difficult.

 

Hopefully next year we will see some semblance of normality for such festivals, although returning to the way this festival were celebrated before Covid-19 does seems impossible for now.

 

• Next post - A Low Key Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2021 for Ampang 

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival 2021

It is again the Mid-Autumn Festival or better known as the Mooncake Festival. The mooncake shown here is a type of mooncake known as 公仔饼 (doll biscuit) or 猪笼饼 (pig basket biscuit). Traditionally, this biscuit is placed unwrapped in miniature bamboo and later plastic baskets that resembles the cages that pigs were transported in (hence piggy biscuit). Nowadays as to comply with food hygiene requirements, they are individually wrapped in plastic wrapper before being stuffed into the plastic cage.

 

 

This type of mooncake biscuit is basically made with the dough for the skin of the traditional (Cantonese style) mooncakes, and is a good way to utilise all the excess dough instead of letting them go to waste. In the past, they are moulded into various shapes including a simple, elongated oval shape, as long as they can fit into the 'cage'. Nowadays they are almost always moulded to look like a cute miniature pig.

Traditionally, they are solid, with no filling whatsoever as the purpose of this mooncake was to make use of the excess dough; plus it also doubles up as a cheap gift for customers who bought a lot of expensive mooncakes. Nowadays, mooncake makers do make them with simple filling like lotus paste or red bean paste.

Even though it isn't as popular as other types of mooncakes, nevertheless the sight of these piggy biscuit mooncakes always reminded me of the way  the Mooncake Festival was celebrated when I was young.

 

Another year of quiet Hungry Ghost Festival

As the Hungry Ghost Festival this year comes to a close, it has been another year of low key celebrations due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

No large makeshift altars were allowed here this year. Instead, people are only allowed to do prayers in temples and also private offerings outside their homes.

 

And as we reminisce upon the festive celebrations of previous years, we hope that perhaps next year we will start to see some of these traditional festivities return to normal.