With the faces of seven gods looking on, a young woman kneeled before an altar in a Taoist temple in Kowloon.
Her family waited anxiously next to me just outside the temple's entrance.
Not wanting to disturb what was going on, I tip toed around and peered inside the temple. An elderly woman standing behind the altar seemed to be mixing up something inside a large bowl.
I asked a young man from Singapore standing next to me what was going on.
"She is possessed," he whispered in broken English. He explained that the locals ask this wise woman a question and she acted as a medium between the Taoist gods and the people. (To see my exploration of the Taoist temple in Kowloon click here.)
I discovered later on that mediums who communicate messages from the spirit world are common in Taoist temples. The messages are sent through a special tool called a planchette, resembling a short, fat stick.
Behind the altar, interpreters surrounded her on both sides. Two of the men were looking on intently at the writing. A woman stood off to the side writing down the words that the medium was writing in sand inside the bowl.
Suddenly, the medium stopped her work. The young woman was given her verdict, walked away, met up with her family and only muttered a few words in Cantonese before leaving the temple. I could not tell if this visit had brought good or bad news.
As the family walked by, the smell of burning incense wafted over me. I wondered did the young woman ask about marriage? education? health? Or something that I could never understand?
Before I could think any further, another man stepped up, asked his question in Cantonese and the medium continued. Her expression remained unchanged.
Taoism, along with Buddhism and Confucianism, is one of the three major religions in China. In Hong Kong, Taoism is one of the six largest religious organizations, according to the Hong Kong Daoist Association.
I began to understand the popularity of this religion while leaving the temple. I saw several families walk toward the entrance.
I wondered what questions they had for the Taoist gods.
Her family waited anxiously next to me just outside the temple's entrance.
Not wanting to disturb what was going on, I tip toed around and peered inside the temple. An elderly woman standing behind the altar seemed to be mixing up something inside a large bowl.
I asked a young man from Singapore standing next to me what was going on.
"She is possessed," he whispered in broken English. He explained that the locals ask this wise woman a question and she acted as a medium between the Taoist gods and the people. (To see my exploration of the Taoist temple in Kowloon click here.)
I discovered later on that mediums who communicate messages from the spirit world are common in Taoist temples. The messages are sent through a special tool called a planchette, resembling a short, fat stick.
Behind the altar, interpreters surrounded her on both sides. Two of the men were looking on intently at the writing. A woman stood off to the side writing down the words that the medium was writing in sand inside the bowl.
Suddenly, the medium stopped her work. The young woman was given her verdict, walked away, met up with her family and only muttered a few words in Cantonese before leaving the temple. I could not tell if this visit had brought good or bad news.
As the family walked by, the smell of burning incense wafted over me. I wondered did the young woman ask about marriage? education? health? Or something that I could never understand?
Before I could think any further, another man stepped up, asked his question in Cantonese and the medium continued. Her expression remained unchanged.
Taoism, along with Buddhism and Confucianism, is one of the three major religions in China. In Hong Kong, Taoism is one of the six largest religious organizations, according to the Hong Kong Daoist Association.
I began to understand the popularity of this religion while leaving the temple. I saw several families walk toward the entrance.
I wondered what questions they had for the Taoist gods.
8 comments:
Jess i know i already said this, but your writing is really excellent!!! i can tell you put a lot of research and thought into what you say. also since i cannot comment on your pictures i will tell you now that the picture of the little bridge in the park where you can see it reflected in the water it really amazing! grace
Excellent! I feel like I am there with you. Very descriptive. Glad you didn't try using the palm reader. Not very Christian.
Thank you for your comments. I just want to clarify that the medium does not practice palm reading. What is going on here is an ancient practice. If you would like to read more about it please click on the links I provided in the blog.
As for not being Christian. I want to ask you, anonymous, doesn't the Christian faith use mediums as well to some extent? I know that in the Lutheran church we give prayer requests to the pastor to present before God. Also, during different points of the service in the liturgy the pastor also stands in different positions. I am told this represents the pastor either giving us God's word or him offering our praises to God.
I'm vicariously enjoying your experience of this exotic world. Did you know Kowloon means "fragrant harbor" (fragrant not necessarily in the good sense)? I learned this by reading a novel called Fragrant Harbor by John Lanchester, who grew up in Hong Kong.
Jess...once again, a beautifully written description of your experience. Between your words and pictures, you're able to paint an amazingly complete image and make me feel like I'm standing right there with you. That's so cool. I knew nothing about this practice. Now I feel as though I experienced it myself. The spiritual/religious part of the culture there seems fascinating.
Jessica I really enjoy reading your excellent descriptions of life there in Hong Kong. You have to teach me how to make my blog look nice and add pictures. As to your comment on my blog, so far I have had very little contact with locals, except for my host family and random strangers. I hope to have better experiences in the future. I have still been here less than a week and have been mostly surrounded by the other American students. I hope this will change once we get used to our new city.
Jess. Good job on the blog so far. I especially like how you are incorporating links and slideshows seamlessly into your writing.
I heard some advice from our photographer at my paper. He said that in big cities, it can be dangerous shooting photos of random people. He called it "street photography". There are some people (criminals, etc.) who are terrified of having their pictures taken and will take action to make sure your picture does not turn out. And by action I mean violence. Anyway, I had never thought of that before. But you are an unassuming American, so you don't have to worry too much :-) Take care!
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