Poh Seng Tai Tay (保生大帝)

Today being the 15th day of the third lunar month in the Chinese calendar, I am heading down to our Swee Cheok Tong Quah Kongsi in inner George Town, Penang to offer personal prayers of thanksgiving to our clan association's resident deity, Poh Seng Tai Tay (保生大帝), otherwise known as Tai Tay Eah, on the occasion of the deity's birthday and my recovery from an ailment that had landed me in hospital at the beginning of the year.

Poh Seng Tai Tay is known throughout the Chinese diaspora from Hock Kian Province as the Deity of Healing and indeed, the ashes in the joss stick urn of the deity that we worship in our clan association was brought over from our ancestral village in China.


Recently while visiting the Cheng Leong Keong (Tai Tay Eah) temple in Jelutong, Penang, pictured here, I came across a bilingual booklet which traced the legend of the deity. The booklet does not seem to have a large readership and perhaps if I were to reproduce an extract here, I can help to propagate the worship or understanding of Poh Seng Tai Tay.

The title Poh Seng Tai Tay is a shorter version of the full title Wan Shou Wu Ji Bao Sheng Da Di (萬壽無疆保生大帝) bestowed in 1425 to Tai Tay by Emperor Ming Renzong of the Ming Dynasty of China.

Poh Seng Tai Tay (meaning Great Protector of  Life) is a popular diety of healing among the Hokkien community, and he is more affectionately called, in the Hokkien dialect, Tai Tay Eah or Tay Eah Chor. He is traditionally apotheosised by Chinese physicians and druggists. His birthday is celebrated primarily on the 15th day of the third lunar month and to a lesser scale, on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month.

Poh Seng Tai Tay has several other royal titles which were bestowed upon him by emperors of various dynasties of China through the ages in appreciation of his divine assistance and service rendered to the royal families and the people. These titles include Wu Zhen Ren (吳真人), Da Dao Gong (大道公), Hua Jiao Gong (花轎公) and En Zhu Gong (恩主公).

Poh Seng Tai Tay was born into a Wu family and was given a name called Tao (吳本), and pseudonyms Hua-chi (Hua Ji) and Yun-chung (Yun Dong). He was born on the 15th day of the third lunar month in the year 979 during the Sung Dynasty in the village of Pai Chiao (Bai Jiao Xiang) of Tung Uahn (Tong Aun) District (同安縣), in the Prefecture of Chuan Chew (泉州府) of Hock Kian Province (福建省) in China. The villagers of Bai Jiao Xiang were reportedly the descendants of Emperor Tai Bo of the Chou Dynasty.

For generations, the ancestors of Tai Tay were conscientious cultivators of high virtues and supererogation. They were ever ready to assist the distressed, help the poor and perform meritorious deeds whenever and wherever possible. Tai Tay's father, Wu Tong, and mother, Huang Shi, were well respected in the village for their thriftiness in home management and generosity in performing dana.

According to legend, the birth of Wu Tao (that is Tai Tay) was not an ordinary one. It was told that when Madam Huang was giving birth to her son, she had a vision of Heavenly messengers, Tai Bai Jin Sing (太白金星), Nan Ling Shi Ze (南陵使者)and Bei Dou Sing Jun (北斗星君), escorting a divine boy (that is, the deity Zi Wei Sing) (紫微星) to come to transmigrate to be her baby. At the very moment of his birth, some extraordinary phenomena occurred. The room where he was being born was filled with a scent of divine nature and brightened with rays of varied colours. Looming over the house were layers of multi-coloured clouds and flooding the house compound was an air of heavenly bliss. This was an extraordinary sight and indeed a good omen.

During his childhood, Wu Tao was extremely intelligent and bright, fond of reading and studying. He was admirably known as a wonder boy. As he grew up and attended school, he read very widely books of various disciplines. He could remember whatever that he had read. He was extremely learned not only in the fields of astrology and geography but also in the disciplines concerning etiquette and ceremonies, music, law and administration. Being particularly interested in medicine, he deeply engrossed himself in medical research, making substantial and significant contributions in medical science.

According to one account, at the age of 17, Wu Tao got to know one wise man from Mount Kun Lun, Xi Wang Mu (西王母), quite by accident, and learned from him the Taoist secret of making medical Dan (i.e. pills) and powder as well as the Taoist way of cultivating towards attaining enlightenment.

He became a government official when he was only 20 years of age. At the age of 24, he passed the second stage of the Imperial Examination (that is, Ju Ren), and was consequently appointed by the Imperial court as a royal official.

The greatest ambition in life that Wu Tao cherished was to be able to serve the community well and help the sick, poor and needy. He was very kind and compassionate, attaching little or no importance to fame, wealth, authority and position. In consequence, during his term of office as a royal official, he was very clean and incorruptible, righteous and straight.

He served as a government official for only a few years. Later he resigned from his post and retired to his home village to lead a secluded life in the eastern region of the Mount of Great Wild Goose in Bai Jiao Xiang. This marked a crucial turning point in his life. He became a very strict vegetarian, cultivating self purification and practising the Dao (i.e. the Great Way to Enlightenment). He studied with full enthusiasm the wonderful Dao of mystics of the highest order. He spent a great deal of his time and energy in furthering his medical skills. He mastered the magical skill known as Shang Wu Fei Bu Fa (三五飛步之法). With compassion he resumed his medical practice, making prescription in accordance with the patient's sickness and conditions. At the same time, he engaged himself in manufacturing special medical pills and powder and in applying the mystic power of talisman for the purpose of treating the people of their diseases and solving their problems and difficulties. Countless number of patients were treated, cured and restored to full health. Wu Tao was thus a man of great compassion, and a physician of profound medical skills. His good reputation began to spread far and wide.

In the year 1036, on the second day of the fifth lunar month, Wu Tao sucessfully perfected the Dao of self purification and attained the state of enlightenment, ascending to heaven on a white crane. He was then only 58 years of age.

The second extract from this booklet will follow later.

How Poh Seng Tai Tay (保生大帝) cured the queen

There are some people who have been questioning why I am so immersed into the legends of Chinese gods and deities in my blog nowadays. Well, the direction of my writing does change with time and right now, I feel that it is necessary to share with others whatever little I have learnt about my Chinese cultural past, especially when this cultural past has connections with my clan association. And just so, the legends are documented for posterity.

Anyway, this is the final extract from the bilingual booklet found in the Cheng Leong Keong (Tai Tay Eah) temple in Jelutong, Penang. Like all my earlier posts on the deity, Poh Seng Tai Tay, the resident deity of the Swee Cheok Tong Quah Kongsi, which can be read here, I have attempted to clean up the quaint writing of the original author.

Healing Queen Wen of Ming Chengzu During the reign of Emperor Ming Chengzu in 1409, Queen Wen suffered a serious breast disease which nowadays we know as breast cancer. All the available Court physicians attempted to treat the Queen but in vain. They were at their wit's end. The Queen's son, the heir apparent, made a public announcement to request for any competent physician in the country to come forward to treat the Queen. 

Tai Tay appeared as an avatar in the person of a Taoist priest and went to the Court to offer his service. The Prince ushered Tai Tay into the Queen's inner chamber. Although she was willing to receive treatment, she was nonetheless quite reluctant to be treated by a priest. In view of her embarrassment, Tai Tay said: "Don't worry. What is needed is to tie a silk thread to the affected area. I just have to stand outside the door and shall be able to diagnose the sickness". 

The Queen was quite sceptical and wanted to test his medical skills. She secretly ordered the attendant to tie the silk thread to the leg of a cat and requested Tai Tay to diagnose. After some careful diagnosis, Tai Tay said: "The pulse is not that of a bear. Neither is it that of a leopard. It must be that of a cat!!" Not fully convinced of Tai Tay's medical skills, the Queen then asked for the silk thread to be tied secretly to a door ring and requested Tai Tay to diagnose again. After some careful diagnosis, Tai Tay said: "This has a characteristic of wood or metal. It cannot be a human pulse." 

After these two tests, the Queen was very surprised at the correctness of the diagnoses. Fully convinced of Tai Tay's medical skills and treatment, she then tied the silk thread to the affected area on her body. Tai Tay's careful diagnosis confirmed that it was a breast disease and an acupuncture treatment was needed. 

However, the Queen was put in a quandary as she was not willing to bare the top portion of her body for treatment. Tai Tay then said: "It is alright. I could remain on the outer section of the partition and use a silk thread to administer the acupuncture treatment. The treatment would be as effective". The Queen agreed to the proposal and received the treatment accordingly. True enough, she was finally healed. After witnessing this, the heir apparent was very grateful to Tai Tay for saving the Queen's life. As a token of appreciation, he wanted to bestow Tai Tay with gold and silver, and offered him an important position in the Court. 

Tai Tay gracefully rejected both the gift and offer, and left the Court quietly and disappeared. Some time later, the heir apparent managed to learn that it was Tai Tay who came in the person of the priest to save the life of the Queen. 

Many years later the heir apparent ascended to the throne as Emperor Ming Renzong. In 1425, as an Emperor, he conferred on Tai Tay the tiile of Wan Shou Wu Ji Bao Sheng Da Di, meaning the Great Protector of Life for Limitless Ages and Boundless Places. A large-scale reconstruction and extension was also carried out to convert the old temple of Tai Tay in Tong Aun District into a huge palace. In addition, a Dragon Gown was also bestowed in Tai Tay's honour. This was how Tai Tay got his royal title of Poh Seng Tai Tay. Incidentally, Tai Tay is a title of the highest order that can be conferred on a diety.

Since attaining enlightenment, Tai Tay had, through the ages, appeared many times over to save those in trouble, help those in difficulties, protect the country and bless the people. Tai Tay's meritorious deeds would be indeed fully recorded in history and his name would forever be remembered.

The many feats of Poh Seng Tai Tay (保生大帝)

There is no shortage of stories about the legendary feats of Poh Seng Tai Tay (Tai Tay Eah) (保生大帝), the resident deity of the Swee Cheok Tong Quah Kongsi. You should pick up a copy of the bilingual booklet, Biography of Bao Sheng Da Di (Deity of Healing), published by the Cheng Leong Keong temple (Tai Tay Eah Ahm) in Jelutong, Penang. Here are three stories from the booklet:

Controlling the flood at Bai Jiao Xiang On one occasion, Bai Jiao Xiang (which was Tai Tay's home village in Tong Aun District, Quan Zhou Prefecture, Hock Kian Province in China) was badly flooded. The water current was alarmingly strong and swift, and houses were on the verge of being swept away. At this crucial moment, Tai Tay was seen appearing on a white crane in the sky, exercising his divine power to control the flood. In a short while, the flood water began to subside. The entire village was eventually saved without suffering much damage. As a token of appreciation, the people built a shrine to house his image and apotheosised him.

Helping Emperor Song Gaozong to escape from captivity (The legend known as Ni Ma Tu Kang Wang (泥馬渡康王)) During the time when Emperor Gaozong (高宗) of Song was still a prince, the Jin (金) (a barbaric tribe north of China) invaded the country. The Song defenders failed to stop the invading enemies from advancing. The Song called for a truce and surrendered the prince to the Jin as a hostage and the prince was subsequently kept in captivity in a Jin prison. One night several years later, the prince found an opportunity to escape under the cover of darkness. He ran as fast as he could to make his way home until he reached the Cuizi Temple (崔子廟). However, he still could not find a horse to ride. There, amidst his anxiety and fear, he suddenly heard a horse neighing nearby. He found the horse and rode off quick. As he reached a river side his captors were catching up fast with him. Feeling very worried and helpless, he prayed very hard for assistance. Almost immediately, there appeared in the sky an army of heavenly soldiers carrying the bearing with Tai Tay's name. The heavenly army quickly came and routed the enemy. The prince was quick to take this opportunity and hurriedly crossed the river and returned safely to the Middle Kingdom. Some time later, the prince ascended to the throne and he discovered that it was Tai Tay who had aided him at that critical moment. To show his gratitude, he issued a royal decree to build a temple named after Tai Tay in Bai Jiao Xiang and to hold regular rituals and praying sessions every year at the temple. This was the oldest temple for Tai Tay in Bai Jiao Xiang, known as Ci Ji Ling Gong (慈濟靈宮). Tai Tay was conferred the title of Da Tao Zhen Ren (大道真人). and was thus also known as Da Tao Gong (大道公).

Assisting Emperor Ming Taizu in battle During the period between the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty in China, Zhu Yuan Zhang (朱元璋) (who later became Emperor Ming Taizu) was in battle against a warlord named Chen You-liang (陳友諒) at Lake Poyang. During the confrontation, a tempestuous storm suddenly developed and raged through the lake. The battleships of Zu and his army were badly hit by the storm and Zu was faced with an imminent defeat. At that very moment, Tai Tay appeared with layers and layers of banners waving in the sky, which changed the direction of the raging storm and saved Zu from the brink of defeat. Zu was finally able to beat the enemies and win the battle. Later, Zu successfully founded the Ming Dynasty and ascended to the throne in Nanking, declaring himself as Emperor Ming Taizu. In 1371, the Emperor conferred upon Tai Tay the title of Wu Tian Yu Shi Yi Ling Zhen Cun (吳天御史醫靈真君), meaning Great Royal Officer and Master of Healing.

As the third and final extract from this booklet is rather long, I shall reproduce it in a later post.

More on our particular Quah (柯) surname in Penang

Last November, I had written about the origins of our particular branch of the Quah (柯) surname in Penang. Yesterday at our annual Chap Goh Meh worship session, I was reminded that one of our Quah brethren, Chin Eng, had once researched and produced a short piece on the history of the Swee Cheok Tong Quah Kongsi (瑞鵲堂柯公司). This document was never circulated outside of the Kongsi's committee and before anyone else forgets about it again, it is fitting that I should reproduce it here (my own comments are in parentheses):

The Quah Kongsi has its origins from Hock Kian Seng (福建省), Chuan Chew Hoo (泉州府), Tang Uahn Kuan (同安縣), Chap Phaik Tor (十八都), Cheh Sian Li (積善裡), Leong Boon Poh (龍文保), Chan Tao Kak (田頭角), Tia Boay (鼎尾), Ow Quah Sia (後柯社).

Quah Lau Seong, the son of our clan leader Quah Soo Tee, from the village of origin in China, Ow Quah Sia, initiated an organisation called Hye Inn Tong (海印堂) and worshipped the deity, Poh Seng Tai Tay (積生大帝). Later on, clansmen from Ow Quah (後柯) and Goh Joo Quah (五裕柯) together donated money to buy real estate called Hye Inn Garden (海印園). The Swee Cheok Tong Quah Kongsi was established in the year 1805 by clansmen from Ow Quah and Goh Joo Quah.

(NOTE: There is a small anomaly here because the Kongsi's Rules and Regulations mentioned 1846 as the year of establishment of the Swee Cheok Tong during the reign of Emperor Toh Kong [Tao-kuang or Daoguang (道光帝)] in China. According to historical records, he reigned from 1820 to 1850.)

(UPDATE: The same Rules and Regulations of the Kongsi mentioned the Pia Gor year in the reign of Emperor Toh Kong. For a long while, I was puzzled by the term Pia Gor but I've just come to realise that my esteemed Kongsi predecessors in the Straits Settlements that had first drafted our Rules and Regulations in the last century could have referred to the Celestial Stem and Earth Branch of the traditional 60-year cyclical Chinese calendar [see the wikipedia entry for sexagenary cycle]. If so, then Pia Gor was their Hokkien way of writing Bing Wu [丙午] which would then place the year squarely as 1846.)

When our forebears came to the Nanyang to earn a living in the early part of the 19th Century, they brought along Poh Seng Tai Tay to worship in Penang and celebrated the deity's birthday on the 15th day of the third moon of the Chinese calendar. They bought properties in Penang and set up the Swee Cheok Tong Seh Quah Kongsi (檳城瑞鵲堂柯公司) here with the following objectives:

1. To stimulate a feeling of sympathy and relationship among the clansmen of Quah and interest in the welfare of the Kongsi;
2. To promote social interaction and to give an opportunity to all Quah clansmen to meet and discuss all points of interest relating to business transactions, etc;
3. To promote the interest and welfare of the younger generation of Quah clansmen;
4. To assist one another in a wedding or funeral among Quah clansmen as the case may be; and
5. To promote the worship of Poh Seng Tai Tay that originated from Hye Inn Tong Temple, Tia Boay, Ow-Quah Sia, Hokkien, China, and worship memorial tablets (Sinchu) of Quah clansmen.

The Quah clansmen followed a cyclical series of 12 generation names: Chew (照), Choo (珠), Lai (來), Hoo (富), Seng (盛), Kee (奇), Chor (祖), Boo (武), Yu (於), Ban (萬), Soo (思), Lean (聯)

(NOTE 2: Definitely, these generation middle names have fallen into disuse within our Quah clansmen. As far as I know, none of my present Quah brethren has followed this naming convention for decades. It has stopped even with my own lineage, and my great-grandfather could have been the last of his kind to sport a generation name.)  

(UPDATE 2: Finally, this picture is of the plaque that is affixed above the main altar in our Swee Cheok Tong Kongsi House in Penang. While it proclaims Hye Inn Tong as the name of our private temple, similar to the original Hye Inn Tong in the Hock Kian Seng, it also signifies that the Hye Inn Tong was the original name of our Kongsi in Penang but because subsequently, we also accepted members from the Tong Su side of the same Ow-Quah clansmen, the enlarged Kongsi embraced the wider name of Swee Cheok Tong in 1941. The year inscribed on the plaque (15th year of the Republic of China, proclaimed on 1 January 1912) would refer to 1927.

(About 10 years ago, I was told by a Kongsi elder, now deceased, that some of the trustees and members were from outstation, living or working around Taiping and Bagan Serai, which were mainly populated by the Hokkien community, and they requested the Kongsi to spread its wings to northern Perak and establish the Hye Inn Tong of Taiping which was essentially a branch of the Penang Kongsi.)

Digging into Swee Cheok Tong's past

It has been a long while since I wrote anything about the history of the Swee Cheok Tong (瑞鵲堂) because, well, with my superficial understanding of the history of the Quah Kongsi to which I belong, there was hardly anything that I considered worthwhile enough to add.

But in the past few days, I have uncovered some historical information that has astounded and made me feel all excited. What happened was that I had opened a wooden safe in the premises and instantly felt very curious about several packages there which were wrapped in newspapers. Among them was a stack of very old legal documents: poll deeds, trust deeds, indentures, conveyances, etc.

I decided to look closely into these documents. Clearly, they were all related one way or another to the properties that the Kongsi was holding. But the problem was that the documents were in very delicate condition. Some was almost brittle with old age and threatening to fall apart in my hands. (No great surprise here, seeing that this was very similar to the condition of the old books and magazines in the Archives of the Penang Free School when I was investigating the school's history some two to three years back.)

Coming back to the matter at hand, I checked that in November 2013, I had written this about the Kongsi:

All I know about our Penang Swee Cheok Tong Quah Kongsi (檳城瑞鵲堂柯公司) comes from the official Rules and Regulations of the Kongsi, which states that the clan house in Penang, Swee Cheok Tong (瑞鵲堂), was established in 1846 (Pia Gor year in the reign of Emperor Toh Kong (道光帝)) by the Ow Quah clansmen that originated from Tia Boay (village), Tung Uahn Kuan (district), Chuan Chew Hoo (prefecture), Hock Kian Seng (province), China.

In these Rules and Regulations, which were dated 5 Dec 1941, it was acknowledged that the Ow-Quah clansmen that had established the Penang Swee Cheok Tong Quah Kongsi were members of the family of the Hye Inn Tong (海印堂) ancestral worship hall in Tia Boay.

So far, the only physical evidence I could find about the Swee Cheok Tong's link to the Hye Inn Tong was the prominent plague above our main altar in the Kongsi House.

But none of the elders in our Kongsi, myself included, had any clue at all about how this had come about. Hardly surprising again, because we are from the generation that were born in the mid-1950s and only came to be involved with the Kongsi some 40 years later...in the mid-1990s. Some snippets of the Kongsi's unsubstantiated history were heard only verbally from our own elders. But it is true that there is a Hye Inn Tong temple back in our ancestral village in China. However, we have hardly any contact at all with the temple there.

I am happy to say now that after looking through some of the legal documents in our possession, I may have established the connection between the Swee Cheok Tong and the Hye Inn Tong.

This image below formed part of a document I uncovered: an Indenture made on the 31st of December 1913(!). Yes, the year was Nineteen Thirteen, more than a century ago. The particular sentence that caught my eye was:

"....as Trustees of the said Swee Cheok Tong Kongsee (which previous to the year 1868 was known as Hai In Tong Kongsee) are now..." 

Spellings aside, which I believe is no big deal since spellings do change through time, including the spelling of my own surname, this sentence not only affirmed that the Quah Kongsi had existed well before 1868 (established in 1846), but that the Swee Cheok Tong and the Hai In Tong (or Hye Inn Tong) are one and the same entity. A breath-taking discovery indeed.

Actually, Swee Cheok Tong and Hye Inn Tong are not the only names adopted by the Quah Kongsi in the past. When our ancestors arrived from China in the early or mid-18th Century, they had brought over a joss-stick urn of the Poh Seng Tai Tay (保生大帝) , also known as the Tai Tay Eah (大帝爷) deity, for worship in the Nanyang.

The worship of Tai Tay Eah would be one of the few spiritual ties that the immigrants kept with their home village.

In some another documents I saw, there were constant references to a Tai Tay Eah Society, formed and established in and around 1846, and which later became the Swee Cheok Tong in 1868. See, for example, the image above from a Trust Deed dated 1898, which read: ".... in trust for the Tai Teh Yah Society otherwise called the Swee Cheok Tong Kongsee or the Seh Kwah Kongsee ...."

So we know as a certainty from these legal documents that at various periods in the past, the present Swee Cheok Tong was known as both the Tai Tay Eah Society (or Tai Tay Yah Society) (大帝爷会) and the Hye Inn Tong (or Hai In Tong).

But when did the name transition take place? When did the Tai Tay Eah Society become first the Hye Inn Tong and later the Swee Cheok Tong?

For that I've to refer to yet another document in which someone had scribbled in the margin a very long time ago. The scribbling said that the Tai Tay Eah Society was renamed as the Hai In Tong in 1864 and four years later in 1868, it assumed its present name of Swee Cheok Tong. Unfortunately, I haven't seen any other document that can confirm the 1864 date.

Tai Tay Eah temple

This is the 聖菓院 temple in Kuala Kurau. Not exactly in Kuala Kurau town itself, but on the southern banks of the river. Although the building is rather recent, maybe rebuilt on the same spot, the temple dated back to 1882 when the forefathers of the present townsfolk emigrated from Hock Kien in China. They brought with them the worship of the deity, Poh Seng Tai Tay (保生大帝) or Tai Tay Eah. It is either the original ashes in the joss stick urn or the deity's image itself that was brought over. If you ask the caretaker, he'd probably claim it was the image but it is very hard to say whether he knows for a certainty or he is simply repeating a story handed down through the generations. 

This is the same Tai Tay Eah that is worshipped at the Cheng Leong Keong (清龙宫) (established in 1895) temple in Jelutong on Penang island. Both temples celebrate the deity's birthday on the 15th day of the third Chinese lunar month. I got the dates of their establishment from AngKongKeng.com and if they are correct, then the Kuala Kurau temple is the older by several years! The Swee Cheok Tong (Seh Quah Kongsi) also celebrates the birthday of Tai Tay Eah, our chief resident deity, on the same day too. In fact, the original name of our clans house, prior to it being known as Swee Cheok Tong, was Tai Tay Eah Society when it was established by our forefathers in 1846.

Kongsi worship

A splendid gathering today for members of Swee Cheok Tong in conjunction with the annual birthday worship of our resident deity, Tai Tay Eah (Poh Seng Tai Tay), held on the 15th day of the third lunar month in the Chinese calendar. This is one of five key occasions that form the core of the Kongsi’s activities for members. We hope to see even more members join us for future celebrations—it’s always meaningful to come together in worship and fellowship.

The main altar comprising the Tai Tay Eah, Lochia Kong and Tua Pek Kong deities

The memorial tablets in the inner hall of the Kongsi

A matter of seeking divine permission

Yesterday was the 15th day of the third Chinese lunar month and as usual, I was at the Kongsi in George Town, Penang, for our prayers to the Poh Seng Tai Tay (also known as Tai Tay Eah) on the occasion of our resident deity's birthday.

Hardly had I alighted from the car that the excited voice of my vice-president came floating to my ears. That's strange, I thought to myself, he doesn't normally come around to the Kongsi this early when we have such prayers. I looked at my watch and it wasn't even ten yet. But like I said, he sounded excited.

The moment I stepped into the premises, he told me that the joss-stick urns for the deities were not aligned properly. We have two urns on the main table and I took a close look at them. Yes, by golly, he was right. But not only were the urns not placed centrally on the table, they were also very slightly turned away from the main door. My suspicion was that some people could have been careless while cleaning the altar and urns previously, and had shifted the latter out of their normal alignment. Not many people would have noticed that, if not for the eagle eyes of my vice-president.

Then we should correct them as soon as possible and there's no better time than today when it is the deity's birthday, I suggested. He agreed. And so began our task of shifting the urns. First of all, we had to ask our resident deity for permission.

"Erm, you better do the asking," my vice-president urged me. And he reminded me that the first time we wanted to change the position of two boxes on the altar during the Tung Chik prayers last year, I had allowed one of the Trustees to seek permission and it was denied him. It should have been me doing that, he said.

Oh well, if as the Kongsi's president, I have to do it, then I must. The ceremonial task is mine. So I picked up the two red blocks of chiao pai wood, went to the altar and asked the deity for his divine permission to shift the urns and change the positions of the two wooden boxes on the altar.

When I threw the chiao pai and they were falling down, I was thinking to myself: what if they come up head-head or tail-tail? Lately with my luck and past experience performing such tasks, it was very likely that I'd get a denial from the deity. And you can ask only once. I can't throw the wooden blocks continuously until I achieve a head-tail combination. It doesn't work that way.

When the wooden blocks turned up head-tail on my first attempt, I heaved a silent sigh of relief. Okay, we can proceed. So under my direction, my vice-president started moving the first urn, the one made of copper. He pushed it bit by bit while I was facing the altar to give direction. Then it was the turn of the ceramic urn. Again, he tried to rotate it slowly until I told him to stop. Yes, that's it, I said, enough. Let me give them a small minor adjustment, I added. So finally, the urns were aligned properly with the altar now.

Let us ask whether the deity was now happy with the re-positioning, I said. So I threw the chiao pai blocks again, more confident this time, and was so glad when the head-tail combination appeared on the first try. Yes, our Tai Tay Eah was satisfied and therefore, we were satisfied too. Hopefully with this re-alignment, our resident deity will shower us with his blessings and we can take the Kongsi forward.

Curry mee in the city

Recently, I was introduced to this curry mee stall along Kimberley Street in George Town, Penang, by my fellow Old Free, Heng Swee. (This composite picture was copied from his facebook entry.)

Therefore, when I was on the island on Monday on the occasion of celebrating the official birthday of my Kongsi's resident deity, Poh Seng Tai Tay, I remembered to take some time off from my schedule to partake in this popular Penang hawker food.

I must say that my friend's enthusiasm was not misplaced or found wanting. This hawker's version of curry mee was really excellent.

I had mine with some extra ingredients thrown in - a squid and a pair of chicken claws - and together with a cup of steaming hot local black coffee, the price was just RM7.60. Definitely affordable and enjoyable as a treat while spending time with friends or family.

Looks messy but boy, oh, boy, the taste was fabulous.