In the midnight of the ninth day of Chinese New Year, the sound of firecrackers can be heard everywhere. Under the Covid-19 epidemic situation in Malaysia, every family have spent the second Jade Emperor celebration. Many families as always prepare the food offerings to worship the Jade Emperor. Under the sound of the laughter and firecrackers, families prayed for the safety of the whole family, hoped that the Covid-19 epidemic would disappear as soon as possible, and hope that people could return back to their previous lives.
Although this year’s Jade Emperor Festival is still spent amid the epidemic, the relaxed Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for Chinese New Year epidemic prevention do not limit the number of family gatherings. Some families invite relatives and friends to celebrate after a year of violation, while others are with few family members or few relatives simply pray Jade Emperor together.
Wo’s family is one of the family held a small and sincere Jade Emperor Festival with their own family members.
In fact, the Wo’s family is not from Fujian, but from Hainan. Why do they need praying Jade Emperor on that day?
Praying Jade Emperor is followed by origin of Wo Pow Pow’s mother
Wo’s family eldest daughter Wo Pow Pow said her father’s origin is Hainan but they worship Jade Emperor is according to her mother’s origin, which is from Fujian.
She said they have followed their mother’s custom of praying Jade Emperor for more than 40 years, and her family have never been absent every year.
“40 years ago, we offered a lot of sacrifices to pray the Jade Emperor such as roast chicken, roasted pig, fish and others.
"But with the passage of time, we have prepared more and more simple food offerings, such as only preparing fruits and must-have food offerings such as bean peacake and pastry.
“My family also gradually got used to this prayer, and it has continued to pray until now,” she said.
Praying Jade Emperor are simplified due to the epidemic
Due to the Covid-19, the process of praying to Jade Emperor in the Wo’s family has been simplified, and the food offerings are still traditional and vegetarian.
However, Wo’s family eldest son Wo Poh Teck was not sloppy in the preparation of food offerings, and still maintained traditional practices, including preparing many necessary things for praying Jade Emperor.
He said he has always been very strict in preparing food offerings, and he said he must choose the best ones of the Jade Emperor.
“Before we pray the Jade Emperor, we will prepare some joss papers, paper shrine and buy the beautiful heavenly house to decorate.
“Then, we will prepare the food offerings with the special meanings, such as longevity noodles and two red eggs, 12 bowls of dry vegetarian food, Ang Ku Kuih, fat pan, fruits and others.
“For the fruit part, we have prepared meaningful fruits such as apples, oranges, bananas and pineapples. The combined fruits symbolize fortune and prosperity.
“In addition, we will also prepare the most important thing for praying Jade Emperor which is sugar cane. This symbolizes the appreciation and thankful of the Hokkien people to the Jade Emperor for protecting our family healthy all those year ago, and hopes that he would continue to give us his blessings,” he said.
Mistress of Wo’s family expressed her emotion that she could not reunite as a family to celebrate Jade Emperor Festival
Mistress of the Wo’s family Tan Chah Boh said that she feels sad because whole family could not reunite for praying Jade Emperor, because in the past, the whole family used to pray together.
She said although whole family did not pray to Jade Emperor together, she is still very happy to have completed this important festival.
“I am also very happy that my children are very concerned about this festival and put a lot of effort into it, and I am very grateful.
“I also hope that they can continue to pass on this festival and this tradition to the next generation," she said.
She said that she also prayed for the blessing of the Jade Emperor, and hoped that in the next year, the whole family could be reunited together.
Jade Emperor Festival is the most important moments for Wo’s family. During Chinese New Year, hence, it is the best opportunity for them to record this meaning event. Let’s us follow one of the Wo’s family members, Yuki to see how they celebrate this festival.
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