Friday, August 31, 2012

中元节 ZhongYuan Festival at 3d Mile, Sg Maong

The ZhongYuan Festival (中元节) Festival at the 3d Mile, Sg Maong is a public event and one of the largest in Kuching. It is also known as YuLanShenHui (盂兰盆会).

The height of the event will be tonight when at a certain time, all those food items (mostly dried food, fruits and vegetable, rice, etc) placed on the large expanse of the ground behind the main altar will be up for grab in a major free-for-all. This is a typical Hakka (客家) event.  

Giant Dragon Joss Sticks
 
Main Altar
 
  
 
Sweets Mountain
Grains Mountain
Gold Mountain
House
Black Gold with 2 Attendants 
Black Gold
Silver Mountain 
Offerings of Food
 
 
Offerings of Five Types of Fruits 
 
 
  
 
Festival Flags

Tonight, all those food items (mostly dried food, fruits and vegetable, rice, etc) seen here on the large expanse of the ground will be up for grab in a major free-for-all.

 

庆中元 ZhongYuan Festival at Home

Today is the 15th Day of the Seventh Moon and is thus the Chinese festival of ZhongYuan (庆中元) and the day when the gates of the spiritual world open and all souls can roam the human world. Today is also a day for ancestral worship. 

Family Prayers were done this morning....


As usual, all the food for a complete meal are there.

Cempedak (Artocarpus integer)

This amazing fruit, cempedak (Artocarpus integer), can be found in fruit stalls all over the market in Kuching now and what a fruit is it! Yummy!




Look at the golden colour ....





Have to eat with a spoon to avoid the sticky sap ... :-(


The seeds can then be cleaned and then boiled with a bit of salt. They taste like nuts. Very tasty!