Fiery tradition: Devotees surrounding the burning Tai Su Yeah effigy in Jalan Pasar, Bukit Mertajam. — ZHAFARAN NASIB/The Star
BUKIT MERTAJAM: Thousands of devotees packed the streets in the middle of town here as Tai Su Yeah, also known as the King of Hades, was sent off in a bonfire at the Pek Kong Cheng Temple in Jalan Pasar.After a two-year hiatus of the Hungry Ghost Festival celebration due to the Covid-19 pandemic, droves of people started gathering at the site from as early as 7pm on Sunday, offering prayers to the 8.53m-high effigy sheltered under a zinc roof beside the temple.
At 9.50pm, a Taoist priest conducted prayers before the effigy was moved to the middle of Jalan Pasar near the Jalan Danby intersection and then set ablaze in a mountain of joss paper and other prayer paraphernalia and offerings.
The ritual ended the 15-day Bukit Mertajam Phor Thor (Hungry Ghost Festival) celebration, which has been conducted there for 138 years now.
As devotees watched the effigy being engulfed in flames, some shouted “Huat Ah!” (prosperity).
The entire effigy took about 15 minutes to be reduced to ashes.
Engineer Roland Tan, 42, and his wife Emelia Wong, 37, had come all the way from Taiping, Perak, to offer their prayers to the deity.
“I have been coming here over the last 15 years to seek blessings from Tai Su Yeah for better health and prosperity,” said Tan, tossing a pile of joss paper into the bonfire.
Another devotee, Ng Siew Meng, 47, said he had been sending off the King of Hades for more than 10 years to seek the deity’s blessings.
“It is our family tradition. My parents did that and we are following (the tradition),” he said.
Yu Lan Celebration Organisation chairman Datuk Seri Peh Weng Kim said there was a 30% increase in the size of the crowd this year, adding that he was happy to see that all the devotees wore masks throughout the event.
Taoist belief has it that when the gates of hell open in the seventh lunar month, spirits get to go on a vacation to the mortal world while being watched by Tai Su Yeah.
The Hungry Ghost Festival, which started on July 29 this year, will end on Aug 26.
