The Sembawang Road North Roadside Shrine

I have discovered another roadside shrine, this time in the north of Singapore. It lies in front of a tall, imposing tree next to a row of shophouses near the junction of Sembawang Road and Admiralty Road East.

Sembawang Road, north of the junction with Admiralty Road East.

Since this is along the northernmost stretch of Sembawang Road, just north of the last big junction before the road (nearly) meets the Straits of Johor, I shall call this shrine the Sembawang Road North Roadside Shrine.

This shrine should be maintained by the shophouse tenants in the background; the four large Chinese characters at the top of the shrine read, from left to right, “Tian Guan Ci Fu”, which means “Heavenly Officials Bestow Fortune” - the wish of every business.

The shrine has been around for at least 14 years, according to Google Street View’s history, and it has evolved during this period.

In 2008, it was far smaller, and its deities were at ground level, amidst bushes.

Credit: Google Maps.

By 2012, someone had raised the deities above the ground, with a wooden pallet as a makeshift base.

Credit: Google Maps.

Between 2016 and 2018, the bushes were cleared, and a proper concrete base was built for the shrine, complete with tiles to create a mini “courtyard” between the shrine and the pavement. I hope whoever did this did not break any municipal rules.

2018. Credit: Google Maps.

Between 2018 and the present, decorations such as lanterns and laminated signs bearing auspicious Chinese phrases were tacked on, adding life and colour, giving off the vibe that the shrine was well-maintained and taken care of.

The shrine has the usual assortment of deities.

Just behind the joss urn flanked by guardian lions, sits Tua Pek Kong.

Behind Tua Pek Kong, from left to right, are Mazu, Mazu again (with a pair of child attendants), and Cundi, a female bodhisattva revered in East Asian Buddhism (thanks to Bernard Chua for the correction). On the right edge of the shrine are Laughing Buddha, Guan Di (Emperor Guan), and a boxed God of Fortune (Cai Shen).

Collectively, people pray to all of them for the usual blessings needed in life - good health, good luck, good fortune, good tidings for everything.

Below the deities, at ground level, there is a tablet dedicated to the Earth Deity. I am amused that someone decided to bequeath him a box of kuih belanda, or “love letters”.

A curiosity next to the shrine: The person who had constructed the concrete base and “courtyard” also made sure to build a concrete “cave” for two Money Toads (Jin Chan) and a Dragon Turtle (Long Gui).

These are ornaments for good fengshui, meant to beckon fortune, success, power - again, items on a business’ wish list. I wonder whether a crack had been deliberately made in the concrete to allow devotees to stick joss sticks as offerings for the creatures.

A shrine will only be as good as its devotees. Long may the row of shophouses prosper!

Pressing grave papers

It’s Qing Ming (Tomb Sweeping Day) again, which means it’s time to pay respects to my paternal and maternal grandparents again.

My paternal grandfather’s grave lies in Kopi Sua Cemetery; after an entertaining search, I “found” and cleaned it in December 2020. This year, I decided to revive an old Hokkien tradition and “press grave papers” (ya mu zhi) on his tomb.

The tradition involves spreading thin, square pieces of coloured paper all over the tumulus, usually with small stones on them so they do not fly away.

This practice fulfils a few purposes:

1. It symbolises repairing the roof of the deceased’s “house”.

2. It lets others know that the grave is taken care of by descendants.

3. It lets surrounding spirits and deities know that the deceased will not become a lonely, hungry ghost.

The underlying value here is filial piety - a value I admit I took time to understand and appreciate.

My father was surprised when I showed him the stack of colourful paper I had purchased from a paper offering shop. I guess he did not expect me to know about this tradition, let alone desire to continue it. But he readily agreed when I suggested practising it at his father’s grave.

And so we visited my grandfather’s grave - my dad, my brother, Tiak, and me.

We burned paper gold to him.

We also burned paper silver to the Hou Tu (“Emperor of the Earth”), the guardian deity resting next to his grave and overseeing its welfare.

It took me some time to “press the grave papers”, because the tumulus was huge.

A splash of colour!

My father reminded me to put a stack on his headstone too.

Rest well, Ah Gong!

The Datuk Gong shrine of Toh Guan Road East

I stumbled upon another roadside shrine on my travels - this time along Toh Guan Road East, to the east of Jurong East MRT Interchange, on my way to the sprawling complex called Enterprise Hub.

This shrine occupies a triangular-shaped parcel of land bordered by Toh Guan Road East, Quek Industrial Building, and Ulu Pandan Water Reclamation Plant.

The yellow of the shrine jumps out amidst the blue sky, green grass, and grey asphalt - no wonder, for the shrine is for a Datuk Gong, a local guardian spirit, and yellow stands for royalty.

The three Chinese characters on the banner adorning the shrine read “Na Du Gong” - the Chinese for “Datuk Gong”.

Datuk Gong sitting serenely facing the road.

Above his altar, there is a large stone with a garland of dried flowers and grass around it. I assume it is believed the stone denotes his presence. There is a piece of cloth tied to the stone, and other small items around it; my guess is they are “his items”.

The same applies to the walking sticks propped up on the wall between the large stone and the supply of joss sticks - they “belong” to him and he “uses” them to “get around”.

The Datuk Gong of Toh Guan Road East shares his sacred space with other deities. My guess is that members of the public had parked them there for various reasons over the years, and who are we to remove them?

Next to the yellow shrine are two smaller shrines. One has a tablet with words that have completely faded; however, the outlines of the characters are still visible, and they tell me that the tablet is dedicated to wandering spirits with no one to pay respects to them. The other shelters Tua Pek Kong.

Delightfully, there are more deities in the shed behind the shrine.

The top level has an assortment of deities - Buddha, Guan Yin, Tua Pek Kong, Mazu.

There were also smaller figures that I could not make out.

The bottom level has two Laughing Buddhas, which are popular depictions of the bodhisattva Maitreya, the Future Buddha.

I hope whoever owns the lease on the land has a lot of time on the lease, which will secure the existence of the shrine for a long time to come.