Bai Tian Gong (拜天公), or "praying 🙏 to the Heaven God", is a major Hokkien tradition celebrating the Jade Emperor's (玉皇大帝) birthday on the 9th day of the Lunar New Year. It serves as a thanksgiving ritual 🎑, often involving sugarcane offerings to symbolize protection and gratitude for saving ancestors during wartime.
Hokkien people believed that the Jade Emperor was instrumental in rescuing them from their plight, which is why Hokkiens celebrate Bai Tian Gong. The sugarcane as well is commemorated as it kept them hidden and safe when the bandits were searching for them. In Hokkien dialect, the sugarcane plant is pronounced as ‘kam jia’, which sounds very familiar to ‘kam xia’, the word for gratitude. Thus, in Hokkien Chinese New Year, Sugarcane Stalks are often placed on either side of the offering table 🎑 or the front door of the house. This symbolizes the appreciation and gratitude of the Hokkien people to the Jade Emperor for protecting their ancestors all those years ago and hopes that he would continue to give them his blessings.
Typically, the ceremony 🎑 commences on the eve of the 9th day, typically starting at 11pm on the 8th day of Lunar New Year. But due to mum’s advanced age, she preferred not to jostle with other families burning the joss papers at the public bins. So, she Bai Tian Gong (拜天公) on the actual day at about 6am in the morning then send me down to the bin to do the burning.
Selected images from the internet.
