hi.

i have been to temples and i am very puzzled on where should the offerings be placed on the table.

for instance, when we prepare vegetarian, fruits and meat, how should we place them?

is it the vegetarian first, followed by fruits then meat? which should be placed in front of the gods first?

also, i would like to ask what is the use of huang qian ( those which we tie to the sugar canes when we pray to tian gong) ?

because i see quite a number of temples tie the huang qian both on the inner altar as well as tian gong's altar during the god's birthday

thanks. sorry for asking so many questions. :D

Hi Ruihe,

Sorry for the late reply.. miss ur posting.

As for the placing of offerings, 1st thing we need to check is that, whether the temple allow you to being in meat offerings, if no, then better then prepare any, if yes, here's the suggested order of the placing:

nearer to the main altar where the statues are, you will place your vegetarian offerings, followed by your fruit offerings and last, your meat offerings (in some contexts, the meat offerings are usually not mend for the main deities but the Generals and armies that followed them to join in the celebration, etc).

For the hanging of Huang Qian aka Huang Gao Qian, this is a custom or practise by the Hokkien Clan, the Cantonese and Teochew Clan, they will used another type of paper to represent Lantern - as in bringing descendants, etc.

By using the Huang Gao Qian, this represent the highest respect from the Mortal to the Deities, usually this will only be used on Big Celebration or on Jade Emperor's Birthday, etc.

We welcome all enquiries, dont worry abt asking :P

hi. thanks for the information given. =D

er... i would like to ask what if we are praying to the Jade Emperor? how do we place the offerings? (like meat, vege and fruits)

as we are not hockien people, we do not use the Tian Gong Zhuo when we are praying to the Jade Emperor. we only place a incense urn and the offerings on a single table. thus im not sure how to place the offerings for Tian Gong.

also, i would like to ask where should the Offerings be placed for the other gods assisting the Main God.

for instance, when we are praying to Hua Guang Da Di, where should his offerings be placed and where should the offerings of Qian Li Yan, Shun Feng Er, Qi Ye, Ba Ye be placed?

normally, we will arrange a long vertical table to place the offerings, so im not sure whether the offerings for Hua Guang Da Di be placed at the top of the vertical table ( nearest to the stautes) or the end of the vertical table ( where the incense urn is placed)

Hi Ruihe,

Usually we need to place the offerings according to order and ranking.

For Tian Gong, here's the suggested placement of the offerings:

Nearer to the Tian Gong (can be tablet or statue), usually we will put the vegetarian stuffs (Tian Gong dont take meat stuffs), follow by fruits, and then the meat stuffs (mend for the Marshals and other Celestial Officers who came for the feast)

Here's a simple layout:

(Tian Gong Tablet/Statue)

Taoist Five Offerings (if you intend to follow the Taoism way):
Orange - Plain Water - Candle - Flower - Incense

Vegetarian Stuffs

Fruits

Meat Stuffs

(candle/lamp) - 3inches apart - (Urn) - 3inches apart - (candle/lamp)

3cups of wine
3cups of tea
3cups of plain water (some dont need)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As for Lord Huang Guang, the main offering for him shall be placed near to his statues then followed by the offerings for the assistants:

(Huang Guang)

Offerings for Huang Guang

Offerings for Assistants

(candle/lamp) - 3inches apart - (Urn) - 3inches apart - (candle/lamp)

3cups of wine
3cups of tea

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hope all these help :P

Wu Liang Shou

Hi Bro Javewu. Thank you for the information you have provided. it is really useful. =D

i would like to apologise for my confusing way of asking in the previous post. Sorry.

But i would like to ask if there is any difference in placing 5 cups of tea wine instead of 3-3 for Tian Gong and Hua Guang Da Di?

If we do not have a tablet or statue for Tian Gong, will the layout for Tian Gong still be the same?

Hi Ruihe,

No worry on the way of asking.. :P

For 5 cups, usually when we respect Deities that are allocated around the 5 directions, then we will use the quantity of 5, such as Wu Fang Tu Di, Five Camps Marshals, etc etc, never used them on Jade Emperor or other high position Deities such as San Qing, Dou Mu, Jiu Huang, etc.

In-order to show our highest respect to all these high position Deities, actually we shall prepared 9 cups.. the max of all.

If you all do not have any tablet or statue, its fine, the layout stil remain.

hi Bro Javewu,

i did not know that we cant use 5-5 for the Jade Emperor and HUa Guang. we thought that it is sort of like differentiating it with the other deities like Qi Ye,Ba Ye and Qian Li Yan where we offer 3-3 for them.

we initially thought that the number of cups is interlinked with the number of meats we offer to the deities.

so is it ok to change now?

as u have seen the altar before, we always prepare 15 cups of tea on usual days. is it still appropiate?

Hi Ruihe,

Hahahahaha.. no need to worry abt that, cos Deities wont blamed on you becos of the quantity of the cups of offerings.

Just change to the 3 cups from now on..

Even for Nether World Deities, usually also use 3cups...

Unless for some other reasons, then other quantity wil be used.