@nachtsider - Thanks you for starting this thread~!!! Finally reached the last post

I'm a "cina kampung" from kelantan and born into these culture. When I was a boy, I really look forward to the festivities and celebrations that we would have in honour of these deities. I even looked forward to being "chopped" at the back of my old t-shirt with those "bloodied chops". (Back then I only know that it will protect me but thanks to this thread now I know why ).

We also looked forward to the event where 4 guys will carry a deity's statue on a "kio" and it will turn and turn. To the child me then, it was fascinating how 4 big burly guys could be subdued and put under control by a small statue. Just look at how they struggled to keep still.

Then I grew up and left my village to further my studies. As I try to cope with new challenges studying and later working, I returned to my village only once or twice a year and most times not during these celebrations. Then there's that phase in in my life where I "re-discovered" Buddhism and became a devout follower and in Buddhism, all of these is not compatible. It also didn't help that there are some opportunistic people out there who uses the name of these deities for their own greedy purpose. All these factors has somehow eroded my interest in all these. My own ignorance (as you said before: Monkey See, Monkey Do) only makes it worst.

What this thread has done is to re-awaken the sense of wonders that I lived in back when I was a young boy in a small chinese village in Kelantan. It also helps me to finally understand the diffence between the "culture" that I was born into and grew up with and this new "religion" that I've picked up at the Buddhist Youth Camp. The fear, doubts and confusion that clouded my mind has finally been cleared all thanks to this thread. So thank you and please keep it up !!!

p/s: And thank you for keeping this in Serious /k/ !!! Otherwise we will have to suffer with the nonsense that is /k/ at it's worst.


And for other "regulars" who also contributed their knowledge, thank you too for sharing your knowledge and keeping this thread alive! I will add this to one of the few threads that I always visit when I have the time.

This post has been edited by chrisqck: May 17 2015, 12:04 PM