Jing Zhe means awakening the insect. It was believed that on this day, all insects are awakened from their hibernation when a loud band of thunder strikes the earth and soon after the insects would harm the crops and the hungry tigers would hurt lives and thus people started praying for safety and a good harvest by giving offerings to the Tiger God.
And on this day, whoever wants to ward off backstabbers and troublemakers will visit the temple to give offerings to the Tiger God. A generous piece of raw pork, fresh duck eggs, greens beans, sesame seeds, joss stick, incense paper and an offering set is used for the prayer. A handsome piece of raw pork is rubbed and placed on the Tiger’s mouth to symbolize feeding the Tiger. Throwing of green beans and sesame seeds on the ground is to chase away problems and trouble. To ritual is completed by offering raw duck eggs, burning joss sticks and incense paper.
This year, Jing Zhe was on 6th March 2010, 00:46 Hour.
Here is an article from the Star Newspaper on this subject:
Saturday March 13, 2010
Ritual to ward off gossipmongers
HOUSEWIFE Hoo Lian Ying used to have a problem with people gossiping about her until she followed the advice of some elderly friends and prayed to the White Tiger deity.
Since then, Hoo, from Gunung Rapat in Ipoh, claims that her life has improved.
Temple ritual: Hoo using her sandal to beat a paper effigy that symbolises a vile person at the Paloh Koo Miu Temple in Ipoh.
“I used to have problems with people carrying tales about me. So I decided to pray to the deity to ward them off,” she said, adding that she had been praying to the deity for four years.
Hoo was one of many devotees who went to the Paloh Koo Miu Temple in Ipoh on Monday to pray and make offerings to the deity to mark the White Tiger Festival, which falls on either March 5 or 6 every year.
The feast day – also known as ‘The Day the White Tiger Opens its Mouth’ – is celebrated by Taoists to ward off evil and get rid of bad luck.
Alice Wong, 34, said the festival was a Chinese custom and that she would return from England every year just to pray to the deity.
“I have been praying here for the past eight years,” said the mother of an 11-year-old girl.
The temple’s caretaker, who only wanted to be known as Mrs Lee, said praying to the deity was an annual event for the temple.
“Every year, hundreds of devotees would turn up to perform the ritual,” she said, adding that if it was a leap year, the event would fall on March 5.
She said some devotees, who could not return from overseas to perform the ritual, would even ask their relatives to perform the ritual for them.
Besides warding off enemies and evil, the White Tiger deity is also worshipped by those seeking protection from accidents.
In the ritual, devotees will hit a paper effigy of the person they wish to avoid with a shoe before the deity as an act of ridding themselves of enemies.
Sources:
http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2010/3/13/north/5820819&sec=North
http://www.5arts.com.sg/2010/02/white-tiger-god/
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