Dummy guide to preparation for Heaven Praying
Its the time of the year again, the 9th day of the Chinese Lunar New Year or 初九, where Chinese all around the world make offerings and offer prayers to the Heaven God 天公 or 天神 or 玉皇大帝 asking for protection, fortune , good health and peace for the whole family and also to celebrate 玉皇大帝 birthday. My family have been going through this ceremony ever since I was born and quite ashame to say that I have for my 24 years on earth, never took the effort to find out how to prepare for this important ceremony although I did offer hands and legs. Thus this year will be different for me, I have paid the school fees (actually fully financing this year praying session) and will ensure I learn and carry on this important traditon in the future. And here we are!!!!
DUMMY GUIDE PREPARATION TO 拜天公!!
Roasted "Donald Duck" and "Chicken Little"
4) Altar Preparation
Here we go, the stage where this grand ceremony will be conducted. Just like any grand musical concert, the Altar have to be properly setup as a reflection of our sincerity to god. The life of the Altar starts with an improvised table, not an exciting or attractive sight but with strong solid foundation.
Most of you will have notice that long length of sugar canes are up for sales in supermarket specially for the 拜天公 ceremony. Why sugar canes? Apparently it was believe that long long time ago, when 天公 and his subordinates descent to earth to fight the demons, he lost his first battle and seek refuge among the sugar canes plantation which apparently protected him from been spotted by the marauding demons. It was among the sugar canes plantation that 天公 was able to regroup his subordinates (call them Angels in Christianity concept), made a come back and win a decisive battle against the demons, freeing the comman man and women from evil's grip. Sugar Canes therefore is a symbol of Good triumph over Evil although I will prefer to associate it with a very popular drink at Ang Mo Kio hawker center. 1 Sugar canes will be place at each side of the Altar.
Up goes the skirting around the table to give it a good traditional red chinese look with embroidery of dragons and the "8 immortals crossing the sea" (八仙過海）. Also useful to hid whatever garbage underneath the table.
天公 probably is 1000000 years old but I am sure he must have kept up with the latest technology of our era, IT! To ensure 天公 can recieve the prayers and wishes from the million of chinese devotees around the world, offering of 天公金 (God's Money) and 天公元寳 (God's gold) will assist him in the yearly upgrade of his IT department. This will ensure our yearly prayers for our friends and family will be recieved without information overload on the otherside, think Santa Claus and the million of children sending him mails each year.
天公金 and its hanging position
天公元寳 and its hanging position
Next up is 天公 and his new office... with no gold tap for sure.
Just add candles and 3 big joss stick + all the foods and fruits we prepared earlier on, and we are done! The big joss sticks are like fiber optics link to the heaven.
And there you have it! A Dummy Guide Preparation to 拜天公!!!
Disclaimer: This is a preparation guide and by no means a guide to proper conduct of the prayer ceremony. Content will be added to this guide in the future at the writers discretion. For further consultation, please contact Master Riccardo at 91392381 or visit our website at www.tianggong.com
1) Fruit preparation
No one plan to fail but people fail to plan thus this bring us to our first topic, fruits preparation.
Luckily we all not longer have to do the harvesting ourselves. Fruit stalls are just walking distance within our neighbourhood! The amount of fruits to purchase is up to individual sincerity and wallet power. Some of the standards item to buy can be found below,
The most important 2 fruits to buy are "Yiu Zhi" and "Buddha's Finger"! Never forget to get both this fruits cause its believe to bring "Abundance Fortune" (Yiu Zhi) and protect the family from evil spirits and poor health (Buddha's Finger).
Yiu Zhi
Buddha's Finger
No one plan to fail but people fail to plan thus this bring us to our first topic, fruits preparation.
Luckily we all not longer have to do the harvesting ourselves. Fruit stalls are just walking distance within our neighbourhood! The amount of fruits to purchase is up to individual sincerity and wallet power. Some of the standards item to buy can be found below,
- Heaven's Banana or 天公焦. Its basically normal green banana with a markup price for the occasion. S$7.80 per bunch
- Pineapple. Bloody cheap I realise. Just S$1.50
- Peaches and Oranges
- Apples. For the occasion, the apples went through Cosmetic surgery...
The most important 2 fruits to buy are "Yiu Zhi" and "Buddha's Finger"! Never forget to get both this fruits cause its believe to bring "Abundance Fortune" (Yiu Zhi) and protect the family from evil spirits and poor health (Buddha's Finger).
Yiu Zhi
Buddha's FingerFor good luck, take the effort to wrap red paper around the fruits and place the fruits on red plates if possible. Lastly avoid getting durians.
2) 6 Vegetables and 6 Snacks
Next, we will need 6 small bowl of Chinese traditional veges and 6 chinese traditional Snacks to be use as offerings. This are the kind of Chinese food consume by our ancient's ancestors since long long time ago and will be excellent for 天公 taste bud since he is part of the ancients. The 6 small bowl of Chinese traditonal veges and the 6 snacks are shown below.
Again, for good luck reasons, do stick red papers on each individual bowl. The shape of the red paper is up to individual creativity. My dad attempted to cut a "Yuan Bao" 元寶 shape but for those SUPER devoted ones, you can try cutting 福.
3) Food offerings preparation (optional)
Ultimately any praying ceremony should be conducted with a sincere heart thus even a modest offering of just fruits will suffice. However there are passionate devotees (like me) who felt that any major religion ceremony will be pretty dull without food offerings. In my list of "MUST" have are the following,
Roasted "Babe"
2) 6 Vegetables and 6 Snacks
Next, we will need 6 small bowl of Chinese traditional veges and 6 chinese traditional Snacks to be use as offerings. This are the kind of Chinese food consume by our ancient's ancestors since long long time ago and will be excellent for 天公 taste bud since he is part of the ancients. The 6 small bowl of Chinese traditonal veges and the 6 snacks are shown below.
Again, for good luck reasons, do stick red papers on each individual bowl. The shape of the red paper is up to individual creativity. My dad attempted to cut a "Yuan Bao" 元寶 shape but for those SUPER devoted ones, you can try cutting 福.3) Food offerings preparation (optional)
Ultimately any praying ceremony should be conducted with a sincere heart thus even a modest offering of just fruits will suffice. However there are passionate devotees (like me) who felt that any major religion ceremony will be pretty dull without food offerings. In my list of "MUST" have are the following,
Roasted "Babe"
Roasted "Donald Duck" and "Chicken Little"
4) Altar PreparationHere we go, the stage where this grand ceremony will be conducted. Just like any grand musical concert, the Altar have to be properly setup as a reflection of our sincerity to god. The life of the Altar starts with an improvised table, not an exciting or attractive sight but with strong solid foundation.
Most of you will have notice that long length of sugar canes are up for sales in supermarket specially for the 拜天公 ceremony. Why sugar canes? Apparently it was believe that long long time ago, when 天公 and his subordinates descent to earth to fight the demons, he lost his first battle and seek refuge among the sugar canes plantation which apparently protected him from been spotted by the marauding demons. It was among the sugar canes plantation that 天公 was able to regroup his subordinates (call them Angels in Christianity concept), made a come back and win a decisive battle against the demons, freeing the comman man and women from evil's grip. Sugar Canes therefore is a symbol of Good triumph over Evil although I will prefer to associate it with a very popular drink at Ang Mo Kio hawker center. 1 Sugar canes will be place at each side of the Altar.
Up goes the skirting around the table to give it a good traditional red chinese look with embroidery of dragons and the "8 immortals crossing the sea" (八仙過海）. Also useful to hid whatever garbage underneath the table.
天公 probably is 1000000 years old but I am sure he must have kept up with the latest technology of our era, IT! To ensure 天公 can recieve the prayers and wishes from the million of chinese devotees around the world, offering of 天公金 (God's Money) and 天公元寳 (God's gold) will assist him in the yearly upgrade of his IT department. This will ensure our yearly prayers for our friends and family will be recieved without information overload on the otherside, think Santa Claus and the million of children sending him mails each year.
天公金 and its hanging position
天公元寳 and its hanging position
Just add candles and 3 big joss stick + all the foods and fruits we prepared earlier on, and we are done! The big joss sticks are like fiber optics link to the heaven.
And there you have it! A Dummy Guide Preparation to 拜天公!!!Disclaimer: This is a preparation guide and by no means a guide to proper conduct of the prayer ceremony. Content will be added to this guide in the future at the writers discretion. For further consultation, please contact Master Riccardo at 91392381 or visit our website at www.tianggong.com
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