Happy Birthday to the Jade Emperor

Today is the birthday of the Jade Emperor, whom the Chinese regards as the overlord of heaven, at least in the Chinese cultural contexts. In Buddhism, two names are used to refer to him. One being Indra and the other Sakra (Sanskrit) or Sakka (Pali). In Chinese culture, his birthday falls on the 9th day of the first lunar month. It is celebrated within the 15 days of Chinese New Year celebrations. However, not every Chinese celebrates his birthday today. His birthday today is mostly celebrated by the Chinese of Hokkien descent (i.e. those whose ancestry originated from the Fukien province of China). The peak celebration is usually on the night of the 8th day. Even before the clock strikes 12 midnight, many households will start praying already and they will lit the atmosphere by firecrackers of all sorts. An example is as the video attached here. I usually make small offerings to him at my home altar. I do regard him as part of the Buddhist pantheon of deities and protectors. Except for last year whereby there was a strict control of travel movements, and I could not travel back home for prayers, at least this year, I can make some offerings to him. Typical offerings consists of sugar cane, local cakes called "angku" (tortoise shaped cakes - not those birthday cake type of cake made from flour and green beans. I leave you with a link for its recipe here.

 

https://rasamalaysia.com/angku-kuih-red-tortoise-cake/ 

Usually for the prayers for the Jade Emperor, I would buy the long shaped ones, the round shaped ones and the tortoise shaped ones. In Penang, the angku kuihs are usually red in colour, but there are also other colours with other fillings in it (like sweet coconut fillings, red bean paste, etc). But it is not that common in Penang. In Kuala Lumpur, other colours/ fillings are more common. For the sugar cane, worshippers would usually buy a few stalks of sugar cane as offerings. For me, since I am only making small offerings, I would buy just one stick of sugar cane and cut it into a few pieces. Another "must have" offering is full-boiled egg that has been coloured red on its shell. Chinese also offer pineapples and sweet glutinous rice with red dates on it. Another type of local cake called "huat kuih" are also offerred. The Penang huat kuih is pink in colour and it is soft and looks a little like small muffins. The KL and Singapore, they have their own version of "huat kuihs". The KL ones are flat and looks like the earlier "angku" kuihs. In Singapore, their "huat kuihs" are bigger and looks like big sized muffins. Other offerings include a gourd (or, bottle gourd, in wikipedia, it is called Calabash) and some "meesuah", a type of vermicelli - I think it is wheat vermicelli. You can google search these items. 

One of the photos show the main entrance of a temple dedicated to the Jade Emperor. The temple is called Thnee Kong Thnuah. In the Hokkien dialect, it means the Jade Emperor temple. It is located in Air Itam, Penang. If you visit Penang, Malaysia, do not forget to come to this temple. And the other photo shows the main statue in the temple, i.e. the Jade Emperor with other deities on the lower left and right of the main statue, and the standing guardian deities standing to his left and right (partially seen only in the photo above). 

I think in the past, I have posted something on this celebration. But this post is for 2022 celebration. You may check out this post here. https://buddha-and-me.blogspot.com/2012/02/offerings-for-jade-emperor.html

#JadeEmperor #angkukuih #Hokkien #ThneeKongThuah #Penang