Byline: CHIN MUI YOON Photos by ART CHEN
FOR 21 days, the Tanjung Sepat community comes alive to welcome the ''gods'' visiting their sleepy fishing village along the coastline south of Banting, Selangor. The annual Tie Dai Yuan Shuai or known as the Iron General's birthday falls early April when it is celebrated with feasts and firecrackers, offerings and operas.
As the deity is believed to have invited his other deity friends to attend, the villagers come seeking favours, blessings and warding off evil spells.
They believe the eerie howling of wind throughout this time is the spirits coming together.
Incense perfume the air day and night from the hundreds of 3m-tall red joss sticks brought by the villagers that symbolise brighter days ahead.
Platters of peaches, plums and oranges are heaped upon the altar where villagers make their offerings.
Early in the mornings, a chosen male villager goes into a trance (tiu tong in Cantonese) to allow the deity to ''enter'' his body and he then blesses believers and casts away evil spells from them.
This year's chosen one is known as Ah Sim, a pig farmer.
''I've been very ill for over two years until a medium told me I was taking over his place to host the deity,'' said the soft-spoken Ah Sim, 30. ''It's not my choice, but I haven't been ill since.''
Comes nightfall, the Tze Ying Teochew Chinese opera troupe entertains the crowd with its dazzling visages, elaborate gowns and theatrical tales of treason, fighting and acrobatics. Clashing cymbals, gongs and drums accompany its moves.
The opera shows attract mainly elderly folk who turn out even when it's drizzling. The younger people wait until the last three days when a modern song and dance group performs.
''It's all we have to enjoy every year,'' says villager Wong Sein Fong, 57, who has attended the festival for the past 40 years
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