Friday, August 15, 2014

Curse the Villains - PhotoHunt

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PhotoHunt theme : Curse /People at work

While accompanying my elders on one of their temple visits beginning of the year, I took a picture of this Tiger deity.

Based on Chinese folk culture, people go to a Chinese temple that worship Tiger God to do a "villain hitting" ritual (打小人). The purpose is to curse one's foes using magic. :P

You may perform the ritual by yourself if you know how. There will be several elderly ladies in the temple to perform the ritual for you if you don't know how to do it.

One elderly woman performed this old Chinese ritual by using a slipper to hit a "villain paper" or an effigy, at the same time chanting to put a curse on the intended villain.

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villain hitters at work

I didn't mean to eavesdrop but the elderly villain hitters were cursing loudly for all to hear. :D

Most problems were related to unfaithful partners, rivals, gossips or trouble at work.

Saw this displayed on one of the ladies' stall :

The Ancient Taoist Principle of Reciprocity 
If you do me a favour, I will return a greater favour to you
But if you hurt me, I will not offer the other cheek. 
If you insult me, I will punch you; 
If you punch me, I will break your arm; 
If you break my arm, I will break your leg;
And if you break my leg, I will put you in a coffin.

Gulp.

23 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. You can learn from the aunty on TV and do it yourself. hahaha...

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  2. Oh, they have those in Singapore too? In Hong Kong, you can find "tiger beaters" in Causeway Bay's Canal Road!

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  3. I've never heard of this ritual before. Very interesting and good pictures :)

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    1. Thank you. There are lots of interesting rituals in our Chinese culture.

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  4. I had no idea that curses were so prevalent in Chinese culture. That was an interesting read.

    Good pics for this week's CHALLENGING theme!

    Have a super weekend.

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    1. I am amazed by the amount of curses I found in my Chinese culture while doing this week's theme. :D

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  5. Hi ECL, that's a pretty interesting ritual. Wonderful photo collage and a very nice pairing of the two themes.

    Have a wonderful weekend.

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  6. I wonder if one can protect against being 'cursed' like this?

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  7. I tried 打小人 before, that was when I was still working, encountered some unhappy times, so thought of giving this a try =)

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  8. It was hard for me to find a curse... I didn't know there were so many in your part of the world!
    Stay away from those cursers :-)

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    1. I read quite a bit on curses in the western countries too. But the scariest and most terrible curses come from Asia. :P

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  9. That's very interesting ! I have always liked to learn about Chinese traditions !

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    Replies
    1. Glad you find it interesting. I have more to share. haha....

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  10. You have this in Spore? Saw a ghost movie about 'beating small people" where the ghost comes back to take revenge. Heard its not a good karma for both the beater and the person who ask for the curse as what goes around comes around. How true?

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    1. Yes, I was surprised to find this. This "beating small people" is not powerful enough to harm anyone. The most terrible curse comes from black magic. :)

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  11. LOL....saw this before too. The ladies very good at chanting.

    But what i heard is not good to 打小人 coz the more hit the more 小人 will come . Dunno true or not.

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