The way we were
The chance to save my soul
And my concern is now in vain
Believe the word
I will unlock my door
And pass the cemetery gates...

The King of Ghosts presides over the Seventh Month festivities, keeping devotees safe from the masses of wandering spirits.

Nice pic!

I noticed devotee loves to serve guiness stout to deity. Any reason?

Hell deities love to drink.

The harder the liquor, the better.

Guinness Stout is the minimum strength booze you can offer them.

Most Heavenly gods don't drink very much by comparison, although there are exceptions.

Besides stout, I recall another favorite liquor offered is "Golden Bell Chinese Wine".

Which heavenly deities loves to drink? Ji Gong should be in the list.

Another deity I'm unsure is "Shaolin Sian Soo". I think birthday on 10th month 5th day of chinese lunar calendar. Devotees usually offer Ling Zhi medicated liquor from Hai-O. Are you able to identify and share more on this god?

PS: Thanks for sharing the pictures.

This post has been edited by putra23: Aug 9 2016, 03:03 PM

Does Datuk Kong play any role in the Hungry Ghost festival?

Datuks can help to keep order in areas under their jurisdiction, but they do not play as prominent a role as the Hell beings.

The Fu De Zheng Shen Gong/福德正神宫, a prominent sintua in Klang where Tua Pek Gong is the main deity but the Hell beings are also prominent, are holding a mass for the dead on 12 August (7 p.m.), plus a procession that will cover the Bukit Raja and Bukit Mutiara areas from 17-20 August.

They are a bit out of the way, admittedly, being situated in the Jalan Bahagia area of Kampung Batu Belah, but a visit would be well worth your time.

Pictured below are the Heavenly gods and Hell deities of the establishment, plus the two principal mediums, Choo (nearest to the camera) and Dave.

Stay safe, Pokemon players.

You're collecting monsters; the death gods are collecting the souls of those who throw caution to the wind.

Li Ya Pek oversees offerings being made for the dead.

The Heavenly deities who like to drink include Ji Gong and Lord Xuan Wu.

I've never heard of a 'Shao Lin Xian Shi', but the 5th day of the 10th lunar month is the birthday of Bodhidharma, the legendary Indian monk who brought Chan/Zen Buddhism to East Asia.

He is credited with the creation of the calisthenic exercises that formed the basis of Shao Lin kung fu, and so could therefore be the deity of whom you speak, although offering him liquor would not fit the fact that he is a Buddhist figure.

Conducting prayers of salvation for the hungry ghosts.

Li Ya Pek oversees the preparation of a large-scale feast plus offerings, and blesses several devotees, binding them with his chains to dispel negative influences that have been bothering them.

Heartening to see the practice still going strong , some places it's getting quieter

You'll still see sights like this in the Chinese-majority suburbs, no fear.

A truly massive King of Ghosts presides over the festivities in Alor Setar.

Flanking him are smaller altars to Guan Yin, the local Earth and City Gods, plus Tua Li Ya Pek.

Am hoping the scene in Singapore will survive beyond another decade

Ji Gong is also a Buddhist figure but always depicted drunk, no?

Bodhidharma adhered to his Buddhist vows very strictly.

Ji Gong was never a conformist.

Neither is he paid anything more than lip service by Buddhism.

This post has been edited by nachtsider: Aug 11 2016, 12:50 PM

the dai si ya paper statues in malaysia especially are more daunting looking then the ones in singapore as Ive noticed