Guanyin Temple @ Tanjung Balai Karimun 丹绒巴莱吉里汶的三仙娘宫

Together with a friend, we went to Tanjung Balai Karimun for a short weekend getaway. On the morning of the second day, we went to a local Goddess of Mercy (Guanyin) temple as it was celebrating Bodhisattva's Leaving Home Day.

The men paid S$2 for incense offerings and offered prayers to the deity. Several local residents dropped by to pray too. Seeing me sitting in a corner, the friendly locals came to chit-chat with me. They speak Teochew too.

A young mother came by with a few T-shirts of her young children. She requested the abbot to put an imprint on the back of the T-shirts. The abbot took a wooden seal, thumped it a few times on a pad of red ink and pressed it hard on the T-shirts, a square imprint with Chinese characters was formed.

I was feeling emotional as it was a familiar ritual which my mother used to do for us when we were in primary school. It is believed the T-shirts blessed by the deity would ensure young children would grow up safe and healthy.

After prayers, we were treated to a scrumptious home cooked vegetarian meal by the abbot of the temple. The locals were hospitable and kept piling us with food and beverages. They probably felt honoured to have overseas visitors ... or maybe because we are kakinang (same dialect group). hahaha....

在丹绒巴莱吉里汶游玩, 在当地的三仙娘宫拜拜时, 一位年轻的母亲带了几件她年幼子女的T恤, 要求三仙娘宫的住持在T恤的背面盖印章。

住持拿了一个木制的印章，轻轻在红墨垫拍打了几次就印在T恤上，形成方形印记。据说这么做会保佑小孩平安, 快高长大。

我小时候, 我母亲也是这样子在庙里为我和弟弟们祈福。