九皇大帝庙
Legend of 九皇大帝
The Nine Emperor Gods (or “九皇爷”, “Kew Ong Yah”, “Jiu Huang Ye” in Singapore and Malaysia) refer to “九皇大帝” or “Jiu Huang Da Di” (The Nine Great Emperors) in the Taoist deities system (Taoist Patheon). The birth of the Nine Emperors happened to be on the 9th of September in the Chinese Lunar Calendar, and this day was often celebrated as the festival of “Jiu Huang 九皇” by the T
aoists in Singapore and Malaysia. The Nine Emperor Gods are very often known as “Bei Dou Jiu Xing 北斗九星” (9 North Star Plough Gods), since they are Gods of the stars or planets. Legend 1 : Emperor Peng who was the last emperor of the Sung dynasty (960 to 1127 AD) committed suicide when he was only nine years old while he was on a cruise to Taiwan. In order to pay homage to their Emperor the Hokkien Chinese dressed in white and refrained from killing for nine days. Legend 2 : In the old days, China was divided into nine realms. The kings who ruled each of these realms did not want to be under the influence of one another. This led to a big war among these nine kings called “The wars of the Nine Kings”. An enormous number of people were killed and these nine realms suffered a great deal. Luckily, there was a wise man that tried to stop the war. He arranged for the nine kings to meet and talk for nine days. During these nine days, the kings took turn in presiding over the talk and agreed to refrain from killing and eat only vegetarian food. The whole population of the nine realms also stop killing and ate no meat for nine days. From then on there has been a custom for the Chinese to fast for a period of nine days during the ninth lunar month. Legend 3 : The Nine Emperor Gods were send down from Heaven during the Qing Dynasty (1644 to 1912) to help the Mings overthrow the Manchus. Before they could achieve their task, however they were caught and subsequently, on the orders of the Manchu Emperor, beheaded in public. Their heads were sealed in a vase and thrown into the sea. The vase was later washed ashore and a fisherman who happened to pass by opened it. On opening the seal, nine heads emerged and ascended to heaven and became deities. It is believed that the nine generals grant favours and take away bad luck. The Nine Emperor Gods consist of the following:
第 一 星 天 枢 贪狼
第 二 星 天 旋 巨门
第 三 星 天 机 禄存
第 四 星 天 权 文曲
第 五 星 阳 衡 廉贞
第 六 星 阳 豆 武曲
第 七 星 遥 光 破军
第 八 星 洞 明 辅星
第 九 星 隐 光 辅星
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