It was 14 Dec 2004. As discussed at ah Po's tomb, the priest would reach ASL at 9am to pick up ah po's tablet and proceed to the fourth bro's flat after a short ritual. The rest would meet at the void deck of fourth bro's flat at 930am. But things were not always according to plan. The priest arrived unexpectedly early that day. He was there at 8+, when everyone was in the midst of preparation. By 10am, everyone was at the void deck, including bata ah po and her 2 grandsons. Irene and hubby was also able to join us this time round. Ah po's god son and daughter also came to pay their last respects.
At the altar, the priest had made 2 life size portraits of ah gong and ah po, that were seated at a table with offerings of meat, chicken, buns, fruits, roasted pig etc. There were 2 paper golden boy and jade girl, one on each side. There is also a 8 fts paper mansion flanked with the gold mountain and silver mountain. There were 1 golden bridge and 1 silver bridge. There was the eight fairies at the roof of the mansion. There was also a mercede benz with a chauffeur. While the priest and his team was preparing for the ritual, everyone seem occupied with something. Some was busy looking for the lucky numbers. This was where all the creative thinking began. Some was chit chatting. Some was busy preparing the "liang teh" for the day. Some was busy preparing the coffee.
The ritual finally started at 1040am. The priest went through 2 rounds of bowings and recital of prayers. He was going through the life story of ah po. Through my half-baked knowledge of hainanese, I was able to pick up some key points of the prayers. Ah po was 17 when she was married to ah gong. Theirs was an arranged marriage. They came to singapore on the same year, with great grandpa and great grandma. The priest ended with ah po's illness and how her life ended in Tan Tock Seng on that fateful day. The priest then continued the ritual, while he asked the family to take a 20 mins break.
Then the ritual started again at 12+. The wind was blowing strongly and there was light rain. The sky was cloudy. All knelt down in front of ah gong and ah po's altar with both hands folded. The priest continued with another recital of the life story of ah po. This time, he was singing. Then he asked all to sit down as it might take a while. He ended with the recital with the prayers to correct all ah po's illness from this ritual onwards. Then he asked ah po to bless us by tossing the "xiang bei" 3 times. It was called "Yin1 Yang2 Xiang3 San1 Bei1". The idea was to get 3 different toss. The first toss we got a "xiao4 bei1". The priest said ah po was smiling. The second toss was the "mo4 bei1". The third toss was the "xiang3 bei1". The priest said that ah po was very "ling" and the toss was excellent. With one final recital and bowing, the priest asked all to go to lunch and come back at 2.30pm.
By the afternoon, the ritual started with the priest trying to symbollic act of breaking the hell's wall. Then it was followed by the crossing of the golden and silver bridge. The crossing was led by the second brother carrying the new ancestor altar. The rest followed behind him. Then it was followed by a series of ritual. There was one involving the distribution of fruits, sweets, biscuit and coins. It symbolised the sharing of good forture with Ah po's descendants.
We were asked by the priest to change to colorful clothes before the last ritual. It involved "baptising" of the new ancestral altar and burning the offerings. The whole event ended at around 6++.
No comments:
Post a Comment