Joss paper effigy almost ready

Making art: Loh (left) and a volunteer putting the final touches to the dragon-shaped paper ship known as the Say Hong Chun in conjunction with the Hungry Ghost Festival at the Sian Chye Tong Temple in Ayer Itam, Penang. – CHAN BOON KAI/The Star

The striking masterpiece marks the start of the Hungry Ghost Festival

GEORGE TOWN: Instead of rattan and colourful paper, a temple here has turned to materials like joss paper to make the effigy of Tai Su Yeah or King of Hades for this year’s Hungry Ghost Festival.

Using bamboo, cardboard and 2,000 pieces of the joss paper that are imprinted with sutras, five members of the Sian Chye Tong Youth Section spent two weeks crafting the effigy, measuring some 3.5m-tall and 1.5m-wide.

Its chairman Loh Choon Teik said the effigy would be burnt together with a dragon-shaped paper ship on Sept 9 in a final ritual to send off the departed loved ones, which is the culmination of the seventh lunar month filial piety celebration or Cheow Thor at the temple.

The celebration is part of the Hungry Ghost Festival. The Tai Su Yeah, explained Loh, was the transformation of the Goddess of Mercy to guard the visiting spirits of departed ancestors during the Hungry Ghost Festival.

“Every Tai Su Yeah will have a statue of the goddess on its head,” he said, adding that eight volunteers spent about a month to complete the almost 5m-long paper ship, known as the Say Hong Chun.

“The framework of the ship is made up of bamboo and cardboard, with the exterior fully covered in more than 6,000 pieces of folded joss paper. The joss paper was folded in various designs like lotus leaves and flowers, roof tiles, and dragon scales and tails.

“The paper ship will also be filled to the brim with folded joss paper,” he said.

Loh said paper tablets with the names of the dead as well as their dates of death would be placed in front of a beautifully decorated Buddha’s altar during the Cheow Thor celebration for daily offerings and chanting.

The temple’s religious adviser, Ven Seck Chin Sooi, together with other monks and nuns, will conduct special day-long chanting and prayers on Sept 9.

Today is the first day of the seventh Lunar month.

In Chinese folklore, the gates of hell are said to open during the seventh lunar month, with the spirits going on a “vacation” in the mortal world while being watched over by Tai Su Yeah.

Chinese opera and stage performances are held to entertain the spirits during this time.