Tay Guan Heng Joss-Sticks Manufacturer

Paid a visit to Tay Guan Heng Joss-Sticks Manufacturer at 4001 Ang Mo Kio Industrial Park 1. I had seen online posts about its impending closure, so I wanted to see the place for myself before it was too late.

The humble factory space houses a dying trade that has endured four generations. The family business was founded in the 1930s, and specialised in giant, traditional joss sticks made of cinnamon wood clay, burned during Chinese festivals such as the 7th Lunar Month.

Like the paper offering industry, this business produces intricate, but transient, works of art that last only as long as the festivals for which they are dedicated.

During my visit, I was fortunate to meet the proprietor, Mr Albert Tay. He readily shared about his work, showing me old photo albums of the business’ glory days, and clay sculptures and dioramas on display on shelves.

The business will close at the end of November. Why, I asked. “A lot of pressure… a lot of stress”, Mr Tay shook his head sadly.

Until then, work carries on in the factory, to fulfil final orders.

Tay Guan Heng is open Mondays to Saturdays, 11am to around 4pm or 5pm. It is closed on Sundays.

The Datuk Gong shrine of Tanglin Halt

As the residents of Tanglin Halt Estate gradually move out because of the Selective En Bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS), the long-term future of a Datuk Gong shrine in the area is up in the air.

The shrine is at the foot of a tree along Tanglin Halt Road, between Block 48 Tanglin Halt Road and Block 50 Commonwealth Drive.

The shrine is easily spotted from afar, because the tree is wrapped in yellow cloth, while the abode for the deity is also in yellow, the colour of royalty.

Google Street View’s history reveals that the shrine was set up only several years ago - between February 2018 and June 2019. My guess is that the tenants of nearby Blocks 47 to 49, and perhaps even the stallholders of Block 48A, Tanglin Halt Market & Food Centre, were responsible for building and maintaining it.

These three blocks, and the market, will be demolished in Phase 2 of the redevelopment of Tanglin Halt Estate, sometime after March 2027.

Hence, Datuk Gong should still stick around for some time yet - but after 2027, it is anyone’s guess.

Sending off the Nine Emperor Gods

Tuesday, 4 October, was the 9th day of the 9th Lunar Month - the last day of the Nine Emperor Gods Festival, a day for devotees to give the Nine Emperor Gods a grand send-off.

In modern Singapore, ancient practices like the Nine Emperor Gods Festival must adapt to urban development and redevelopment.

On the same night, I had the fortune of witnessing two send-off ceremonies near each other. Both took place on reclaimed land - Punggol Marina for the Leng San Giam Dou Mu Gong, and Pulau Punggol Timor for the Hougang Dou Mu Gong.

Around 6.30pm, devotees from the Leng San Giam Dou Mu Gong brought in their dragon boat by forklift, to the same pier as their receiving ritual nine days earlier.

Prayers were then conducted on-site.

Close to 9pm, the main body from the temple arrived. Devotees carried and rocked nine sedan chairs bearing nine urns for the Nine Emperor Gods. Selected acolytes, kneeling the whole way, reverently carried the nine urns down the pier to be loaded onto the dragon boat.

As devotees thronged the pier, kneeling and kowtowing, a tugboat gently towed the dragon boat out to sea, where it was put to flames.

Meanwhile, less than a kilometre away, Hougang Dou Mu Gong’s send-off ritual was nearing its conclusion too.

It was a 15-minute walk from Punggol Marina to Pulau Punggol Timor via Seletar North Link, and to the ceremony site next to PPT Lodge 1A, a foreign worker dormitory.

The event attendance was significantly larger, with a bigger budget - fireworks, a concert stage, and large TV screens beaming a live feed of the ritual by the sea. However, most attendees were kept a distance away from the actual ceremony and dragon boat.

Around 10.30pm, the dragon boat was brought out to sea; again, flames lit up the night sky as the boat was torched.

As devotees filed out of the site, a brisk landward wind blew ashes from the burning boat over the crowd, prompting cheers.