Imagining the Divine

Historical records indicate that, from as early as the 6th century, Chinese traders and Indian Brahmins were already settled in the Malay Peninsula (Lee 2018). Along with a large community of Arab traders since the 1100s, these communities have shaped a vibrant cultural cosmopolitanism in the peninsula that lasted till the nation’s independence in 1957. While many practices of this historical cultural cosmopolitanism have since evolved or ceased altogether in contemporary Malaysia, larger and more popular cultural expressions are still being articulated in new ways and forms (Keoy et al. 2022a, 2022b; Lee 2019, 2022). One of these expressions is the Malaysian Chinese, Nine Emperor Gods, Taoist festival. Like many traditional religious beliefs, there are multiple versions of historical accounts relating to the identities of the Nine Emperor Gods prior to their canonization as deities. There are also a comparable number of differing accounts about the start of this religious movement (Cheu 1996, 51-55). One popular account tells of nine brothers from a fishing village in Fujian Province who helped the last prince of the Ming dynasty in his escape to Thailand. They arrived in Songkhla, navigating by the nine northern stars. Shortly after their arrival, they disappeared together with the nine stars. In their place, nine censers – thought to be the manifestations of the nine brothers – were found floating on the sea near Songkhla. It is believed that though their spirits ascended to the southern heavens, they return to visit the Chinese regional community during a yearly tour of the South Seas. This account explains why the festival is observed by devotees in Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia, and provides the reason for performing the welcoming ritual at a waterfront (Cheu 1996, p. 54). The festival is celebrated from the first to the ninth day of the ninth lunar month every year and begins with an Amoy opera (in the Fujian, Guangdong operatic tradition) that denotes the start of the Taoist rituals that would be held in celebration of the nine deities. A street procession that comprises devotees carrying symbolic palanquins and prayer statues, a Chinese musical ‘percussion’ troupe, and sword-wielding as well as skewer-bearing spirit mediums, will make its way from the devotees’ temple to a nearby waterfront at the appointed time. With the welcoming ritual, the spirit mediums invite the nine deities to return with them to the temple where they will be entertained (by the percussion music and the Amoy opera, among others) and worshiped for the nine days. The