Ritual Lanterns, a very important Taoist Ritual Object that needed during Rituals/Ceremonies/Celebration.
During different occasions, different type of lanterns will be used.
For instance: Festive Celebration, Ying Deng (迎燈) will be used to guide the invited Deities to where the celebrations are being held.
Salvation of Souls' Rituals, Yin Deng (引燈) will be used to guide the souls from the surrounding areas to where the chanting areas are. Usually the number of souls being attracted will depend on the height of the lanterns being raised, the higher, the more souls will be attracted.
Besides lanterns, Banners (with Deities titles) are also being placed or raised. Usually the titles are fixed (not like the one we see in Singapore, any Deities names/titles are being hung).
The fixed title will be title for Tai Yi Tian Zun -> salvation of Souls and also, salvation for the mortals.
Other than that, only high rank/position deities are "eligable" for such banners.
While raising such lanterns/banners, a ritual will be needed. The Priests will first report to Heaven, follow by invitation and then raise the flag, then "settle" the energies onto the pole and invite the Pole Officer to station at the Pole. (sequence may vary).
The last 3 pictures show the Pole Officers.
ReplyDeleteUsually some temples will place the Ying and Yin banners together.
ReplyDeleteLeft to guide in the Heaven Deities and Right for the souls.
what is these ?? dieties ??
ReplyDeletebro .. is jiu huang da di eligible ??
ReplyDeleteand i also once saw b4 nan bei duo xing jun banner .. eligible ?? kinda high rank ba .. one holdin life and one holding death ..
They are the Pole officers (alot of ppl mistaken them as the 5 Directional Generals, but they are not :P).
ReplyDeleteAlot of ppl tend to claim there's 5 Directional Pole Officers, but to be more accurate, there's no such things. each officer will only be invited to station at one pole.
Nan Bei Dou, yup, they are consider as the few very important Deities in Taoism, some goes to Jiu Huang (Jiu Huang, consist of the 7 Star Lord of Bei Dou plus another 2 invisible Star Lords at the Northern Hemisphere).
ReplyDeleteIf you are refering to the Priates that S.E.A. believed in, then they are not eligible for that, cos they are just normal souls.
If you are refering to the Star Lords that exist in our Taoism Deities System, yes, they are eligible and more than eligible :P
oh okok .. i also thought might be 5 direction officers and thought the green and red color is place wrongly haha .. thanks ..
ReplyDeleteoh okok .. i saw it @ feng shan shi of jiu wang ye @defu lane for the lantern banner .. each wit seven lantern if i not mistaken ..
oh ya .. im saying abt the stars ..
another question .. if jiu wang ye is 7 Star Lord of Bei Dou .. den izzit there come directly under bei duo xing jun ??
who is duo mu niang niang de ??
*** oh okok .. i saw it @ feng shan shi of jiu wang ye @defu lane for the lantern banner .. each wit seven lantern if i not mistaken .. for praying of nan bei duo
ReplyDeleteBei Dou Xing Jun is just a statue to represent the 7 of them, same goes to Nan Dou Xing Jun, the statue is made to replace the 6 Star Lords of the Nan Dou.
ReplyDeleteDou Mu aka Dou Lao, the highest ranking Lady Deity (beside Wang Mu) in our Taoist Deities System. In Taoism, she's consider as the Mother of all Stars or the "Mother" of the 7 Star Lords of Bei Dou and the Nine Emperor.
To be more accurate, we dont address her as Niang Niang, but Dou Mu Yuan Jun.
Just to add on, the 2 paper dolls (one with black face and one with white/red face) that you see in local Taoist Rituals are dedicated to Nan Bei Dou :P
ReplyDeleteoh okok .. thanks for the info ..
ReplyDeleteoh ya i saw it b4 .. =)
Yup, during the ritual at your Tua, the Priest did prepare the dolls for you all :P
ReplyDeleteUsually, if a tua got crossing of Bridge, they will prepare another doll, which is the Bridge Office.
I think these are Yim Sin , hell equivalent of Goh Ya . Maybe the Goh Quee? The colours on the faces fit the directions, sop could be used for Yin ceremony a la Khor Khun?
ReplyDeleteHahahahaha, dear bro, they are not the Yim Sim as you think, they are the post-officers that needed to be invited for the rituals or ceremonies.
ReplyDeleteIn Spore or Malaysia, no one will perform this procedure of inviting them, so in here, no one know who are they :P