Highland temple marks deity’s birthday

The offerings of food and fruits to the Chin Swee Deity.

CHIN Swee Caves Temple in Genting Highlands organised a series of activities to welcome the Year of the Monkey and visitors to Resorts World Genting.

Its Chinese New Year Carnival saw 50 stalls operating daily for the first seven days of the Lunar New Year.

On Feb 13, the Chin Swee Deity Birthday Celebration was held at the Prayer Hall at Level 7C.

Before the commencement of prayers, devotees were seen preparing offerings such as huat kueh, fruits, dumplings, meat and mee suah for the deity.

Each offering symbolised a prosperous meaning – for example, mee suah and noodles represented longevity and huat kueh reflected prosperity.

Since it was set up in the 1970s, the temple has been celebrating the Chin Swee Deity Birthday on the sixth day of Chinese New Year and it is celebrated globally at all Chin Swee temples around the world.

Devotees offer food, flowers, joss papers, fruits, red coloured eggs, longevity noodles, candles, white wine and many other items during the prayers.

The ceremony commenced with a prayer – a call or invitation to the Chin Swee deity from heaven at 11pm led by a Taoist Master accompanied by Chin Swee Caves Temple committee members Datuk Vincent Teh, Lim Thean Chye and Lina Ting.

The celebration of the deity’s birthday continued into the morning with more devotees arriving in the morning for more prayers.

Sweet treats and fresh fruits were also offered; symbolic of life and new beginnings.

By noon, many devotees and the public arrived to celebrate the auspicious day and pray for good health, prosperity in business and all year round good luck and wealth.

After the prayers, patrons were invited to a scrumptious buffet lunch at the Prayer Hall. Also present at the celebration was Genting Berhad president and chief operating officer Tan Kong Han.

God of Prosperity Choy Sen Yeh was also present for the celebration and gave out goodies to devotees at the temple.

Subsequently, prayers continued to the God of Heaven followed by another ceremony called “Rewarding the Troops” before the celebration ended with “Secure the Censer”.

For the prayer to the God of Heaven, the Taoist Master invites the gods from heaven to come join the celebration for Chin Swee Deity’s birthday.

Meanwhile, Rewarding the Troops is a ritual where 36 divine generals are invited to partake in a ceremony and joss papers and rice wine are offered to the celestial soldiers for their efforts in safeguarding the community.

Finally, the prayers conclude with the burning of incense paper to reward the celestial soldiers of heaven.

In addition to the activities at Chin Swee Caves Temple, the Prayer to God of Heaven Tian Gong ceremony was also held on the ninth day of Chinese New Year at the Sky Terrace.

It was a grand annual affair that attracted hundreds of tourists and devotees to the Chin Swee Temple.