And So It Begins... Raising the Lantern Pole for Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2022

The lantern pole has been successfully raised at Ampang Nine Emperor Gods Temple today at midday. With that it marks the start of the Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2022 at Ampang.

Tonight the Nine Emperor Gods invitation procession will depart at 7.15pm. As usual the lion and dragon dances will commence earlier.

Ampang Is All Set For Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2022

After what seemed like weeks of never ending clean-ups and touch-ups, Ampang Nine Emperor Gods temple is on the final leg to being ready for this year's Nine Emperor Gods festival.

 

Not surprising as this would be the first time after a two-year hiatus that the festival would be celebrated in a grand scale post COVID pandemic. Hence the temple management and team had spared no effort in ensuring that this year's festival will be smooth sailing and as grand as possible.

It must be exhausting as well as exhilarating for the people involved, for what needs to be dusted was dusted, and what needs to be painted had been painted. In past two weeks, the temple became a gathering space for familiar faces coming together for this festival, very much like a big family reunion.

 

So in this post, the pictures are dedicated to the familiar faces and familiar sights that herald the start of the festival at Ampang Nan Tian Gong Nine Emperor Gods Temple (安邦南天宫). And as tomorrow is the eve of the festival, we will eagerly await the raising of the lantern pole and the invitation of the Nine Emperor Gods.

As a reminder, the schedule for the Nine Emperor Gods Festival at Ampang reverts to what it was before the pandemic, with the only exception being that the dormitories are not open this year. The rest of the activities are as before as listed below (times are approximates and invitation ceremonies usually start earlier than when the entourage leaves the temple):

Important Dates for Ampang Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2022

25th Sept (Eve of the Festival)  : Raising the Lantern Pole  ( ~ 11am)

                                                    : Invitation of Nine Emperor Gods (starts ~ 5pm)

27th Sept (Day 2): Invitation of Finance Minister (starts ~ 5pm)

28th Sept (Day 3): Feeding the Heavenly Armies ( ~ 2pm)

1st Oct (Day 6)    : Feeding the Heavenly Armies ( ~ 2pm)

3rd Oct (Day 8)   : Bridge Crossing ( ~ 8pm)

4th Oct (Day 9)   : Feeding the Heavenly Armies ( ~ 2pm)

                             : Fire Crossing ( ~ 8pm)                          

Early hours of the 10th day - Sending off Nine Emperor Gods

5th Oct (Day 10) : Taking down the Lantern Pole ( ~ 10am)

 

Yellow Lanterns and Yellow Curtains... 3 More Days to Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2022

As the festival draws near (just 3 more days), one cannot help but noticing that there are two main colours that dominates the temple grounds and the vicinity of Nine Emperor Gods temples - yellow and red.

 

Yellow being the colour of the Emperor takes centre stage for now, whilst red being an auspicious colour is still present, but becomes secondary during this festival.

Yellow lanterns for Nine Emperor Gods Festival, as yellow is a royal colour befitting an Emperor.

Yellow lanterns, yellow curtains, yellow flags and yellow talismans... all that signify the coming of the Nine Emperor Gods. Here we take a peek at Jinjang Nine Emperor Gods temple and one can feel the power of yellow and how it signifies the Emperor Gods are coming...

Yellow curtains drawn over the inner chamber of the Jinjang Nine Emperor Gods temple for the
festival. The curtains keeps the Nine Emperor Gods from being sighted by all and sundry.

Red altar plaque against the yellow curtains of the inner chamber.

Yellow Nine Emperor Gods Festival flag at Jinjang.

Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2022 Countdown - 5 More Days

5 more days to Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2022...

 

In Ampang, the anticipation for the festival is building up, as many are looking forward to the festival after a two-year hiatus.

Countdown to Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2022 - 10 More Days

It's just 10 more days to Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2022...

 

This year the festivals starts on the 26th of September and ends on the 4th of October. Of course the invitation ceremony would happen on the eve of the festival. At Ampang Nine Emperor Gods temple, the 3rd, 6th and 9th day are also Feeding the Heavenly Army days (犒军).

 

Important dates:

Eve of Festival - 25th Sept 2022

Day 1 - 26th Sept 2022

Day 3 - 28th Sept 2022

Day 6 - 1st Oct 2022

Day 9 - 4th Oct 2022

Countdown to Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2022 - 14 more days

Yes! It is that time of the year... as the Nine Emperor Gods Festival approaches, the countdown to the festival begins!

This year will see most places having the festival back to usual as in the pre-COVID days. For Ampang Nine Emperor Gods temple, this year we will see the return of the stalls, the invitation procession, the fire walking etc. just like in pre-COVID times, with the exception that the dormitories are not open to devotees.

For the countdown series, I will mostly post photos of the Ampang Nine Emperor Gods temple in the pre-festival and preparatory stages as they prepare for the festival this year. The images will be in a myriad of colours, tonality, with some dark and some bright, some dull and some vividly coloured; so as to depict the broad range of visual stimuli that hits you when you participate in the festival.

So let the Nine Emperor Gods Festival 2022 countdown begin... 14 more days to the 2022 Nine Emperor Gods Festival!

Happy Mooncake Festival 2022

The Mid-Autumn Festival is coming (this year it falls on 10th Sept 2022) and hence it is time to wish Happy Mooncake Festival to all my readers and friends. I must admit I have been a little lazy to update post in here, preferring to post more in the Facebook page of this blog or in Instagram lately. 

 

Still, to keep the posting tradition going for Mid-Autumn Festival (for the past two years, I have been highlighting a different style of mooncake for each year), this year I am sharing Shanghai style mooncakes.

 

The distinctive style of Shanghai mooncakes lies in the skin, which is made of shortcrust pastry (the crumbly rich type very similar to pineapple tart pastry) and brushed with egg glaze and baked. The mooncakes can be shaped like small circular balls, or comes in a longer sausage-roll like shape.

 

So wishing all a great Mid-Autumn Festival and enjoy your mooncakes and lanterns.