U know abt the ritual named Theng Say Hong (going back to the Western Part).

This is done on the last nite of funeral wake, this is to help the pass-on to go thru diff stages, lessen their sins, giving them a lendin hand to the Western Heaven.

Even-thou it does sound like Buddhism ritual, but is actually conducted by a Sai Gong (Taoism Master).

In this ritual, there are many rules n regulations to follow, etc.

Y, cos during the ritual, u dont follow certain rules n regulations, the pass-on will not wanted to leave (n last, created un-necessary issues).

Some rules n regulations:

1) not allowed to wear material that will reflect light, able to reflect images
2) no wearing of slippers, shoes, etc
3) have to put on the "Hao" (to differetiate generations, relatives)
4) head to be bend down different certain period when the Sai Gong is doing some chanting (this is the part when the pass-on is ard doing negotiation with the Sai Gong)
5) etc

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

so anyone like to add on?

bro Jave, just curious, for different dialect group, do they also call it theng say hong? I thought only Hokkiens call it this way..
I have seen quite a lot of these funeral ritual but I think the most unique one I have seen shld be from the Hakka group.. nicest music will be teochew siong teng liao loh..
btw, u have any lobang where I can find any cd or scriptures on these rituals (funeral or temple).. I am quite interested to find out more on all these... :D

Theng Say Hong is only called by us, the Hokkien, for Teochew, they got another ritual is in bigger scale, named Xian Theng (Shan Tang), usually conduct by a grp of youngsters (doin chanting, singing), n later some elders will bring the family members to cross the bridge and "break" the pagoda.

During the process of crossing the bridge, for those ladies who are havin period are not allow to step onto the bridge, as this will make the pass-on drop into the "Xue Chi (Blood Pond)" underneath the Nai He Qiao.

While crossing the bridge, every member are to call out the pass-on's name or address, this will help to bring the pass-on to cross the bridge more easily.

Do u all know something?

Usually the pass-on's Hun will follow the last member in the queue.

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

where to get the CDs, materials, etc.. actually a bit difficult, cos all these will only pass down by the master of the rituals.

i'm oso looking for such info...

for teochew Xian Theng, some hokkiens also perform this additional ritual during funeral.. dun know what is the reason but anyway, it is for the good of the decease...
i think it is to clear the sins of the decease so that the way to the other world would be smoother..
i remember my great grandparents instructed us before they pass away, they do not need a very grand funeral with all the gong guan, dua peow but the theng say hong must be done properly..

as for the hakka ritual I was talking abt earlier, if I am not wrong the family actually engaged the priests from Malaysia.. 2 dragons were shaped out from sand and the priests will perform fire jumping over the 2 dragons.. it was quite a sight for me.. think you can seldom see this in Singapore... :D

it is interesting to know the reasons behind all these rituals.. but sad to say, all these might be gone in future if no one is going to preserve it.. :(

Yup, for hakka, they do need the ritual.

This is performed to break open the Hell Gate or the Wang Si Cheng gate for the Hun of the pass-on to come out (so they can queue for reborn or lessen their sins).

Usually the ritual is performed on the last nite, just like theng say hong. The master will prepared two sand dragons, when the time is ripe, the master will do chanting, invite Hun, report to the necessary "office", then starts the "dancing", "breaking", etc, to guide the Hun out frm the Gate(s).

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

As for Xian Theng, for lady pass-on, usually they will starts at abt 4pm in the noon.

Y? cos they need to do an extra ritual for the children to return the "En" for their mother (this ritual will help to return the 10mth pregnant Ku, allowing the mother to leave the world in lessen sins, Ku, etc).

as for guy, usually will starts at 8pm at nite (diff ritual grps, diff versions).

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

nowadays, other dialect grps oso engage Xian Theng, cos of the returning of the "En" to their parents, etc...

maybe i can contribute some, actually now we are unable to see the full ritual rites for Xian Theng, I rememeber in the past which is like during the late 80s early 90s..

xian theng normally
1st part will start at 3.15pm sharp stop at 5pm sharp
2nd part is at 7pm sharp stop at around 9.30pm
3rd part which is the last is at 10pm...

for the 1st part normally starting will be for the children to listens to the prayer infront of the xian theng altar and after that will be infront of the deceased altar together with those who wore we call it "Tua Har" such as brothers, sisters, cousins etc the priest will chant for the deceased to come back and brush teeth clean face etc... and this is the very sad part... after all this prayers being done, the priest will go to a corner and burn some josspaper and after buring you can see what the deceased will be the next life....

for the second part i'm not quite sure cause everytime have to sit infront of the xian theng altar and listens to the chanting maybe any one know the second part can explan to us.... they will break the pagoda and if i not wrong man and woman do different thing for this... and for this until the last part there will be consits of around 5 priest holding different ornerments and will walk around from the xian theng altar and round inside the deceased altar... this part if xian theng got young kids follower normally there will be a number of kids chanting also....

for the third part which is the very very sad part call it cross bridge "Kuay Kio"... the priest will chant a full script of 10 zhou "Chap Jiu" every zhou with different parts to over to the next zhou and will walk from the xian theng altar and inside the deceased altar 5 rounds clock wise and 5 rounds anti-clockwise.... and those who crossing the bridge must throw coins into the pot and for woman whos period is here are strictly not allow to cross the bridge instead just walk at the side way..

why i say now days xian theng doesn't do full ritual because if anyone were to attend any teochew funeral you all can listen very carefully for the 3rd part which is the cross bridge, priest have to chant the full "10 zhou" but some skip from 1, 2 then 5, 6, 7 then 8, 9, 10 hence it's not full already and during the 2nd part of the ritual priest are not allow to sit down only we sit but they had to stand and chant but then now days they sit on chairs..... and also now days priest tends to use mic, by right they are not allow to use mic, why because xian theng reputation comes from the priest it will determines whether this xian theng troupe is worth to carry the name... priest are suppose to chant the scripts with loud, clear and sharp voice with loud and clear teochew music by not using mic... and if you stay a few blks away you can hear what they chant also.... if those really old teochew people they will tell you this type of xian theng is "best" but now days they tends to use mic already so is not easy to hear the clear chanting.....

is not cheap to invite xian theng thats why we all very particular about this type of thing, but now days some of us just take it easy but old people normally don't like it.... and as for those timing given by me are the standard timing of what xian theng will starts and those people in the troupe will tell u they confirm will start at the time sharp and they mean it.... however now days... they will start around 3.30pm++....

the clothes normally their children will wear if you all got see the god "Hao Zhi Ya" wore is the same that is call the full gear we call it got makeup or no makeup in teochew consits of the innner-clothes the "Buan Lai Chu", outer-clothes "Muar", head gear and the grass shoe.... but now days people go for simple just wear the inner layer only with the head gear and white socks... as for one particular if you are the son-in-law you must wear a white clothes like a chef like that with white head gear and white shoes.... but i don't understand that is why now those people who bao the clothes for them ask them to wear "Buan Lai Chu" type of cloth for head gear which is totally wrong... if happen to let me come across this type of supplier i make sure i will scold the person....

as for bro javewu said is correct we have different ritual for woman, man and single.

actually all this information from is at my knowledge as i'm from a teochew family but i think now days not many troupe will follow like last time... but sure there are some still follow from last time till now...

now days people will say wow how come invite gong guan, so many people carry flower basket, big/small banner, band and make it like so grand and people will say this "when die then come and do until so good" but alot of us get it wrong... calling all this for the funeral is to make the deceased peace and happy along the journey..... ofcause if the family members are able to afford it....

Dear yorkey, thanks for your contribution, actually i'm looking for someone who are related to Teochew or from Xian Theng Troupe, finally someone is here to do the explanation, 1000 thanks to you.

Do hope that you can contribute more on the Xian Theng or Teochew Rituals for the death.

Thank you.

thanks for all the info..

but sad to say, this is what I see sometimes.. the children never treat their parents nicely when they are alive but when they are dead, they do the funeral until very grand.. i think it is more of a "face" issue rather than filial to their parents...
from my experience, it will usually rain very heavily during the funeral for these kind of cases..
but I heard from someone saying that it is actually good if there is a slight drizzle during the funeral.. dun know how true it is...

btw, I ever heard once at a xian theng beside my block.. the xian theng very solid.. chant super loud the whole night.. got 1 part, the priest kept banging on the table and shout very loud.. like doing negiotation with someone... anyone know what is the reason for doing this??

ya there are some cases like that where people want to show hehe want to tell people that they got the face to invite soo many things...

agree normally will rain very heavely.... but for my experience everytime when gong guan come and "Bian Xiang" rain super heavely but once after finish liao ready to go out "Chu Xua" sun will shine brightly....

me also curious haha cause I know they got read something den also use the wooden block and hit the table...

no problem hehe hope any one is from the xian theng too can explain to us more :)

--------------------------------------------

actually all the types of ritual is the same just that for example for hokkien normally they will do a normal prayers when the person is deceased and after 3yrs they will do a big prayers "Tua Gong Teck" where u can see some will offer big paper houses and also have invitation card for lunch or dinner for some friends or relative etc... for teochew is one time only during the person is deceased...

now days seldom or not many people want to learn to chant liao although yalar still got... as chanting is not easy you need to raise a clear and sharp voice and every time must drink tea not easy to manage ehehe...