I am a local resident of Kukup Laut. My family lives near to the San Gee Temple《山义宫》, also known as Royal Temple《王爷宫》.

Ever since I was young, I had looked forward to the temple festivals. The biggest reason is that on this kind of grand day, my mother will prepare lots of delicious food for the occasion. Meaning that I can eat lots of delicious home dishes.

The San Gee Temple Opening Festival was different from the past. This time, the celebration is for the grand opening of the newly rebuilt San Gee Temple. The majestically built San Gee Temple is located in the central of Kukup Laut after two years and four months of construction.

In Kukup’s hundred years of history, San Gee Temple was rebuilt a couple of times and it has been more than sixty years since the temple was last refurbished. The San Gee Temple has always had many visitors, I believe more than ever that the temple will lead the villagers to be further united and strengthening the village bond.

The opening ceremony of the temple was divided into several days, from the tenth to the twenty-sixth day of the sixth lunar month. Various ceremonies have been held on these days, such as the consecration《开光》ceremony and bridge-crossing《平安桥》ceremony.

The villagers led by three Taoist priests began the consecration ceremony at 6 o’clock in the morning. At 8 o’clock in the evening, the temple carried out the bridge-crossing ceremony. The ceremony was overly crowded as it attracted many villagers to participate.

On the fourteenth day of the sixth lunar month is the door-opening《开宫门》ceremony, two of the village elders were sincerely invited to participate. Each of them opened one side of the temple doors.

Over the duration of this period, in addition to Getai《歌台》, the organizers also specially hired a Hokkien opera troupe, a puppet show performance, lion and dragon dance performance, and even Electric dancing dolls《电音三太子》and the god of fortune! With this many performances, it naturally attracted a large number of people to join in the celebration.

Even though it was slightly drizzling, the event officially began. The whole temple was crowded, almost everyone was clad in auspicious red clothes and I was no exception. Many villagers also wore special custom-made red clothes, printed with《山义宫》and a cute cartoon version of Guan Yu,《山西夫子》. In the temple, two mediums were in divination《跳乩》, they are Duke Chi and Nezha《哪吒太子爷》.

First and foremost, the lion dance began their performance praying for good luck. The dragon dance also followed up with their performance. The playful lion also offered everyone 4 numbers for good luck. Next, was the dance by Electric dancing dolls performed by performers from Kulai. The dance was electrifying and everyone enjoyed the performance. The Hokkien opera troupe began their performance, with lots of acts to celebrate the birthday of Duke Chi. I was thoroughly impressed with the incredible performance by the experienced opera troupe. All in all, the event was fascinating and even attracted a Malay lady to take pictures since the start of the event.

Duke Chi and Nezha got ready to begin their tour of the village. After a series of ceremonies, the villagers invited the statue of the god on the shrine《神轿》. What is interesting is that the villagers did not count “One! Two! Three!”, but instead shouted “Heng!《兴》Ong!《旺》Huat!《发》”. In the sound of the loud gongs and drums, the villagers picked up the shrine and the ceremony entered its climax! The intensity and power of the swing were unbelievable.

The parade team led by Duke Chi and Nezha began to parade through the entire village. Although it was still slightly drizzling, it did not deter the believers from participating in the parade. Wherever they went, the parade was welcomed by the local villagers. The adults along with the children of every family, pray for safety and health. The Electric dancing dolls were at the back of the parade line, busy distributing angpao《红包》. As it was still drizzling, they have put on extra “clothes”, a transparent plastic to prevent the costume from getting wet. Even within the plastic, the dolls still waved their hands at everyone.

Half the day passed, the tourists on the main road must not have known that this is only a small part of the whole event! The next round of ceremonies began after the parade team returned to the temple.

Rows of red square tables were laid out neatly in front of the temple. The villagers prepared and busily arranged their own offerings and waited for the worship ceremony. The offerings include chicken, pork, fish, fruits, cakes among other dishes. On the Getai, the Hokkien opera troupe once again began to perform.