from left: Kok-Liang and Wee-Peng with their shirt stamped with the names of Da Er Ye Bo (大二爷伯）, blessed and waiting for the procession to begin

The seventh lunar month is regarded as the ‘ghost month’ (鬼月), which is the traditional Chinese festival celebrated by the Chinese in many countries during the 30 days. In this month, the gates of the nether world are opened up and ghosts are free to roam the earth where they seek food and entertainment. Chinese would perform rituals and prayers to their deceased relatives, offer food and drink and burn hell bank notes and other forms of joss paper. Mass rituals and prayers are also held in temples or Chinese neighborhood and in some case, Chinese opera, dramas, and even burlesque shows are performed to the deceased ones as an act of ‘merry-making’.

Every year fall on the 13th of the ghost month, Chinese temple – Di Fang Fu (地方府) located at the Jelotong cemetery in Batu Berendam, Melaka, holds a grand celebration. It is the temple where Chinese worships to the Deities “Da Er Ye Bo” (大二爷伯) and “San Ye Bo” (三爷伯), who are the Deities from the nether world. There will be a 1.5 km procession around the Jelotong cemetery with devotees carrying a black and a white palanquin, ferrying Da Er Ye Bo. It is believed that ones who participate in the procession would be blessed by the Deities and be in good fortune.

Chinese lantern on the main building with the name of Di Fang Fu temple and the names of the three Deities

The late night on the 13th of the seventh lunar month (22th of July this year), Wee-Peng and I together with Kok-Liang and his younger brother visited to the Chinese temple, Di Fang Fu (地方府) located at the Jelotong cemetery in Batu Berendam, Melaka. Kok-Liang and Wee-Peng had been taking part in the procession for years and brought me there for the first time. According to Kok-Liang, the temple was established in the 80s and first housed in a shed-like structure. Years ago, it was then moved to a bigger building, a shorter distance away in the same area. Today, the temple stands a majestically view with all wall bricks and granite, mural design in and around the whole temple premises. It is a beautifully constructed new place of worship amidst a greenery landscape overlooking thousands of Chinese graves on the hillside of Jelotong.

The temple was already crowded with devotees when we arrived. Not long after that, we met Murphy and Desmond who being the volunteers in helping the event. They had been taking part in this celebration for years and this would be the first time to help as volunteers. We would first have to pay respect to the Deities by offering joss-sticks before we queued up to receive blessing from the medium of Da Ye Bo (大爷伯). The line was long and we waited for about an hour to receive blessing which said to be a must in order to walk across the cemetery.

the medium of Da Ye Bo (with tall hat) giving blessing to the kneed devotees

Years ago, the mediums of Da Er Ye Bo (Da regards as elder where Er regards second, and Ye Bo means lord), the two Deities would give blessing to the devotees for the procession. This year however, Da Ye Bo was the only one who gave blessing. Before I continue on the event, let me share one of legends of Da Er Ye Bo which I found and translated from Chinese:

A very long time ago, in the southern province of China, there lived two inseperable friends by the name of Xie Bi-An (谢必安) and Fan Wu-Jiu (范无救), who then became sworn brothers. They had great mastery of martial arts and worked as the loyal magistrate constables (policemen nowadays), serving warrents and hauling in criminals for judgement, but never harming honest folks.

medium of Da Ye Bo (Xie Bi-An) giving blessing and cleansing to the devotees. The words '一见大吉' (one glimpse, great felicity) can be seen on his hat

Once during a prisoner transfer, they lost the prisoner. So they decided to split up to search for the prisoner and Xie told Fan to meet up under the South Platform Bridge. Soon after they went seperately, they were caught in a torrential rain, and great curtains of water beat down upon them.

Fan arrived at the bridge first and waited for Xie. The water level rose higher and higher. Fan had given his word that he would wait for Xie therefore he remained where he was. Eventually Fan was swept by a great of water and drowned. Later when Xie arrived at the bridge and found Fan’s dead body, he was overcome with gried, and in remorse he hanged himself to death from the tree where Fan’s body was found.

The extraordinary affection and loyalty that Fan had for Xie (so much that he was drowned rather than leaving the place where he had promised to wait), and that Xie had for Fan (so much that he hanged himself rather than go on living without his sworn brother), much moved the King of Nether World, who had them appointed as his assistants, where they continue to work together to protect the people from bandits and other bad elements.

Today, Xie Bi-An is known as Da Ye Bo, who is recognized by his chalky white skin and his long tongue, and by his tall stature, made taller yet by a high white hat bearing the words, “one glimpse, great felicity” (一见大吉), where Fan Wu-Jiu is known as Er Ye Bo and is easily recognized by his short stature and dark red or black skin and by the little plaque he carries reading “Good and Evil Clearly Differentiated” (善恶分明).

The medium who possessed by Da Ye Bo was giving blessing and cleansing to the devotees. It was our turn after a long queue. We kneed with our back facing the medium while he gave us blessing. While waiting for the rest of the devotees to receive blessing, I met Kenn-Wai. What a coincident! I was so happy to see him that I could learn something from him while Kenn-Wai also showed a happy smile after seeing me with my camera. He did not carry his camera to the procession and felt deeply regretted. We then started to have discussion of taking shots in low light condition and put our experience into action.

It was about 2:00 a.m. in the morning when thousands of devotees had received blessing from the medium, Da Ye Bo. The statues of Da Ye Bo and Er Ye Bo were then placed on the the two palanquins respectively, one was in black and the other was in white. Before the procession began, strict instruction was given that everyone was advised not to talk nor look back when walking across the cemetery. It was somehow to show respect to the spirits of the cemetery. Everyone would then have to walk with bare foot and holding the lighted joss-sticks, following the medium of Da Ye Bo and the two palanquins on the lead.

joss sticks

The procession began with the cheering of the devotees and fireworks setting off, heading towards the cemetery not far away from the temple. The noise was then reduced to minimum soon after we started. It was dark with such minimal light in the sky from the moon and everyone could barely see the path. It was a pain to walk in the dark and on the stony ground of the cemetery. Although it was quiet during the procession, I could hear people complaining about the pain of their feet. Of course there was a truck following the march to pick up those who could not continue the walk.

The 1.5 km path leads back to the temple, making a big turn across the cemetery hill. My friends and I were at the back of the march and we arrived at the temple after 30-45 minutes walk later than many people. Before we arrived we could hear people started cheering and fireworks were set off again for the celebration to the completion of the procession. Though I could not make it in time to witness, Kenn-Wai later described to me how the medium of Da Er Bo was thanked and ‘sent’ back to the other world after finishing the procession. Stacks of joss papers and papier-mâché items were then burnt as thanksgiving to the Deities. The celebration ended in a real peaceful and joyful environment.

joss papers and papier-mâché items were burnt as an offering to the Deities

I really enjoyed to witness and would like to thank Kok-Liang and Wee-Peng for bringing me to participate in this grand celebration. And thanks to Kenn-Wai for sharing his shots and experience of photography with me. We had fun snapping the event together. May all beings be happy.

Shots Kenn-Wai and I took:

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Murphy was touching a golden Japanese Koi

I always heard about ‘Batu, a nice place to go’. Batu is the informal name for the place Batu Pahat (means ‘chiseled rock’ in Malay, 峇株巴辖 in Chinese), which is a district in the state of Johor.

Besides, I heard from my friend, Murphy of a temple in Segenting (石文丁), which is in the west zone of Batu Pahat, and the temple (崇龙宫大伯公庙) is well-known of fish-touching. There are a few arapaima fresh water fishes in the ponds of the temple. There are rumors saying that, touching of these arapaima fishes would bring good luck to the person.

Last week, I told Murphy that I wanted to go to Batu Pahat for a look, and the temple would be a must to visit too. Murphy made a generous offer of driving me there together with Desmond and Dylan. So the next day we departed to Batu Pahat. It took us about 90 minutes drive from Melaka.

Initially we wanted to go to the town of Batu Pahat and hang out there, but we could not make it as time was so limited. We departed late and we didn’t plan to stay overnight, so we gave our priority to the temple in Segenting. On our way to the fish touching temple, we saw many other Chinese Taoism temples in our 15 minutes car ride from the town.

Finally we arrived at the temple in a fishing village of Segenting. It was drizzling when we reached there, however the scenery was so beautiful. The place itself is a fishing village and it is also a tourism village for people who need a real retreat from the busy city life. We then headed to the famous temple by the beach.

The main god of the temple is Da Bo Gong (大伯公, which is “Grand Uncle” in Chinese). There are also Ma Zu (妈祖, the goddess of the sea), Hai Long Wang (海龙王, the dragon king of the sea) and others to protect and bless the villagers and the fishermen. And we did see the arapaima fishes in the pond of the temple. They were huge and would not bite. Some of the arapaima fishes approached us as soon as we put hands into the water. The fishes swam passed us and letting us to touch them. There were also gentle Japanese Koi fishes in one of the ponds.  

In addition, we could see the lover bridge (情人桥) from the temple. It is the jetty for the fishing boats and also a romantic spot for dating couples. Young couples regardless local or from outstation always take a slow walk on the bridge and enjoy the warm breeze and romantic sunset. The villagers believe that, after a guy and a girl take a walk on the bridge, they would fall in love and become couples.

Murphy at the outdoor pond waiting to touch the arapaima fish

Arapaima fishes in the pond. It is believed that touching one of these fishes would bring luck.

Desmond (right) at the palace of the Dragon King of the Sea

Attap houses of the fishing village

The palace of the Dragon King of the Sea

Murphy (left) and Desmond at the beach of the village

The statue of the Dragon King of the Sea

The arapaima fishes were posing in a line

What a fantastic view of the arapaima fishes queueing in a line

The statue of Ma Zu, the Goddess of the Sea

The lover bridge at Segenting

The innocent and pure children from the village

Sculptures of the two dragon on the roof of the temple

"Huat ah!" (prosperity in Chinese)

The God of Fortune

A worshipper with incense sticks at the temple

In this trip, I learned something new from Desmond. Many Chinese believe in seeking the god’s advice by divination (掷筊). The worshipper usually poses a question, and then phrases an answer, two wooden divinatory blocks are held out upon the two palms, raised about to the level of the forehead of a kneeling worshipper, and allowed to drop on the floor. There are two positions in which each block can land: rounded side up or rounded side down. Therefore there are three combinations of positions, both blocks might land flat side down, both might land rounded side down or each might land differently. If the blocks land in the last combination, one up, one down, then this is taken to indicate confirmation of the answer.

It is believed that when the two blocks land rounded side downward and rock giddily on the floor before coming to rest, the god is amused at the statement put to him, and this position is called ‘laughing jiao’ (笑筊) but when the flat sides come to rest on the floor, so that the blocks fall and come immediately to an abrupt standstill, then anger is indicated. This position is called ‘negative jiao’ (怒筊). The positive fall is the combination of one up and one down, and it is called ‘sacred jiao’ (圣筊).

According to Desmond, it would be good to ask permission from the Grand Uncle in order to snap photos of the gods and temple. In order to show my respect, I dropped the blocks and I got the answer of ‘laughing jiao’. I guessed Grand Uncle was amused at the question I posed. I went to Desmond and asked about the answer I got. He said the god smiled at my question, and the answer was a no. He then advised me to offer incense sticks to the gods of the temple before I asked again. Guess what? Surprisingly after I did that, I got a ‘sacred jiao’ which was a yes to snap photos of the gods and temple.

The lights of wisdom in the main hall of the temple

Grand Uncle (大伯公) in the main hall of the temple

The main hall of the temple

The girders with Chinese lanterns in the main hall of the temple

Incense sticks offered by the prayers to the gods of the temple

It started to rain heavily when we decided to leave the village to have our dinner in the town of Batu Pahat. We had no choice but to dine next to the temple for a simple meal although there were many fine seafood restaurants in the village. The rain stopped just as we finished the meals and we headed back to Melaka. On our way back, Murphy did a few stops for me, and I managed to snap the seaview and sunset of Segenting.

Dylan was looking for a good angle to snap photos

The Chinese pagoda of another temple in the fishing village

A fishing boat

A kingfisher spotted at the seaside

Chong Hwa Primary School in Segenting

The dog, the old lady, and the bird

The sunset of Segenting

"Time to say goodbye"

It was really a nice trip. How I wish I could be there longer. This would not be my last time to Segenting as I believe I would be there again. The next trip has to be a full day trip. I really appreciate Murphy for driving us there and thanks to Desmond and Dylan for their company. May everyone be happy.

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