Event: Hokkien New Year (Thni Kong Seh)
Date: 17 February 2013
Time: 7.00pm to 12 midnight
Venue: Chew Jetty / Hillway Road (Penang Hill), Ayer Itam
Hokkien New Year or Thni Kong Seh (Jade Emperor’s Birthday) in Hokkien falls on the ninth day of Chinese New Year. It is celebrated all over Malaysia but on a grander scale in Penang due to the large population of Hokkien Chinese on the island and mainland.
The biggest Hokkien New Year celebrations will take place at the Jade Emperor temple at Chew Jetty and on Penang Hill. During this time, the Chew Jetty is decorated festively with colourful lights and bright lanterns. Here, it is customary for the residences of the jetty and devotees to bring food and other offerings to share them on the communal tables. At midnight, prayers will be offered to the Jade Emperor to ask for a lucky and prosperous year ahead.
According to oral history, the Hokkien ancestors who were trying to escape a ruthless army in ancient China seeked refuge in a sugarcane plantation for eight days and emerged unharmed during the ninth day of Chinese New Year, which is also the Jade Emperor’s birthday. It is then believed that they were protected by the Jade Emperor, and had since welcomed their New Year on the ninth day by celebrating the Jade Emperor’s birthday and giving thanks to him.
In households, preparations are made the day before with the purchase of “gold-paper” or paper offerings (‘Thni Kong Kim’), sugarcane stalks, fruits, flowers, liquor and Chinese cakes (sometimes home-made) such as ‘Tnee Koay’, a kind of sweet and sticky brown cake made from glutinous rice flour and palm sugar; ‘Ang Ku Koay’, literally translated as red tortoise cake which is a kind of red glutinous rice cake made in the shape of a tortoise shell; ‘Huat Koay’, which are light and fluffy pink cupcakes made from fermented glutinous rice flour; and more. These will be used as offerings for the Jade Emperor along with Chinese dishes and sometimes even a whole roast pig. During night time, an altar for the Jade Emperor will be set up with the offerings placed on the altar. At the stroke of midnight, prayers are performed and later, the burning of the paper offerings (‘Thni Kong Kim’).
The public are welcome to witness this grand and unique event. For more information, contact 012-4126809.
Date: 17 February 2013
Time: 7.00pm to 12 midnight
Venue: Chew Jetty / Hillway Road (Penang Hill), Ayer Itam
Hokkien New Year or Thni Kong Seh (Jade Emperor’s Birthday) in Hokkien falls on the ninth day of Chinese New Year. It is celebrated all over Malaysia but on a grander scale in Penang due to the large population of Hokkien Chinese on the island and mainland.
The biggest Hokkien New Year celebrations will take place at the Jade Emperor temple at Chew Jetty and on Penang Hill. During this time, the Chew Jetty is decorated festively with colourful lights and bright lanterns. Here, it is customary for the residences of the jetty and devotees to bring food and other offerings to share them on the communal tables. At midnight, prayers will be offered to the Jade Emperor to ask for a lucky and prosperous year ahead.
According to oral history, the Hokkien ancestors who were trying to escape a ruthless army in ancient China seeked refuge in a sugarcane plantation for eight days and emerged unharmed during the ninth day of Chinese New Year, which is also the Jade Emperor’s birthday. It is then believed that they were protected by the Jade Emperor, and had since welcomed their New Year on the ninth day by celebrating the Jade Emperor’s birthday and giving thanks to him.
In households, preparations are made the day before with the purchase of “gold-paper” or paper offerings (‘Thni Kong Kim’), sugarcane stalks, fruits, flowers, liquor and Chinese cakes (sometimes home-made) such as ‘Tnee Koay’, a kind of sweet and sticky brown cake made from glutinous rice flour and palm sugar; ‘Ang Ku Koay’, literally translated as red tortoise cake which is a kind of red glutinous rice cake made in the shape of a tortoise shell; ‘Huat Koay’, which are light and fluffy pink cupcakes made from fermented glutinous rice flour; and more. These will be used as offerings for the Jade Emperor along with Chinese dishes and sometimes even a whole roast pig. During night time, an altar for the Jade Emperor will be set up with the offerings placed on the altar. At the stroke of midnight, prayers are performed and later, the burning of the paper offerings (‘Thni Kong Kim’).
The public are welcome to witness this grand and unique event. For more information, contact 012-4126809.
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