JOHOR BARU: Grains of rice and water steeped with tea leaves were sprinkled along the streets of Johor Baru as the Chingay Festival street cleansing ceremony commences.
Johor Ancient Temple committee members and devotees were seen participating in the ritual to cleanse the route for the Chingay parade, which is scheduled to take place on Monday (March 9) evening.
Johor Baru Tiong-Hua Association president Chee Wing Kien, who leads the organising committee, said the ritual was to rid the route of bad spirits to pave the way for the deities.
"This to prepare the route for Monday, where the five deities from the five main Chinese dialect clans would be brought for a tour of the city to bless the place and its people.
"For the cleansing ritual, we use pomelo leaves to sprinkle water, which has been blessed, and rice from the ancient temple in Jalan Trus to Xing Gong temple in Jalan Ulu Air Molek," he said when met on Saturday (March 7).
Chingay Festival is celebrated by the Chinese community in Johor Baru from the 19th to 22nd day of Chinese New Year. This year, the event kicked off with a lighting ceremony on Friday (March 6) night.
This is followed by the street cleansing ritual before the deities depart for the Xing Gong Temple on Sunday (March 8) and the parade, which is the highlight of the festival. The deities will return to Johor Ancient Temple on Tuesday (March 10) to conclude the festival.
