Sai Kong robes at the birthday of Chor Ong

Monday, May 21 2012

Wednesday, 19 January 2011 19:48

ON JANUARY 13, 2011, Yap clansmen, in an elaborate all-day prayer, rituals and feasting, celebrated the birthday of their patron deity, Hoay Che Chun Wang, affectionately known to them as Chor Ong. The event corresponded with the 10th day of the 12th Chinese lunar month.

Sai kong priests, offering prayers in unconventionally colourful robes, were among the many who participated in the event at the Yap Temple.

Situated in sleepy Armenian Street, the "temple" made up of a traditional Chinese temple and a Straits-style structure, cannot help but stand out. Its traditional roof and pillars are decorated and engraved with elaborate and intricate dragon motifs.

The buildings are also the home to the clan's ancestral tablets, and was built on land donated by the famous Penang tycoon Yeap Chor Ee. They were restored in 1998 at a cost of RM300,000.

The Yap clan traces its history back to 439 BC, where, according to legend, the warrior Shen Zhu Liang, after helping to restore the Chu Dynasty, was rewarded with a marriage to a princess, a title and a piece of land. Taking on the name Yap, he named the land the Yap District.

The Yap Kongsi, apart from its traditional role as a focal point for Buddhist prayers, was once used as a base of operations for the Tua Pek Kong secret society.

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