Chanukah

Hanukkah begins at sunset on Tuesday, 20 December 2011, and ends at sunset on Wednesday, 28 December 2011.

Hanukkah or Chanukah is a Jewish holiday towards the end of our year and is celebrated for eight days and nights. The word ‘hanukkah’ means ‘dedication’.

The Syrian-Greek soldier in the year 168 B.C.E took over the Jewish Temple for their god Zeus. Antiochus also persecuted the Jews and ordered them to worship Greek gods, bow down to idols and to eat pork.  The Jews eventually rebelled under the leadership of the High Priest, Mattathias and his family. These rebels became known as the Maccabees/Hasmoneans. Eventually they managed to reclaim the Temple and planned to purify the Temple. They needed a certain oil for lighting the menorah and found only a day’s amount to use. They used this oil to light the menorah and miraculously the menorah burnt for eight days.

This miracle and the re-dedication of the Temple is remembered every year in the month of Kislev, starting on the 25^th. The celebration is over 8 days. Every night another candle is lit until 8 candles burn on the last night. This festival is also called the Festival of Lights.

Because many Jews live in Christian societies, they have started giving gifts to their children during this festival which usually falls near Christmas. Originally, gifts was not part of the celebration.

This festival is actually also relevant for Christians. It is mentioned in the New Testament in the book of John:

John 10:22-23 “Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter and Yeshua was in the Temple area walking in Solomon’s colonnade.”

John 8:12, Yeshua proclaims “I am the light of the world...he who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

http://judaism.about.com/od/holidays/a/hanukkah.htm

http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Holidays/Winter_Holidays/Chanukah/chanukah.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanukkah

http://www.hoshanarabbah.org/chanukah.html

 http://bethhamashiach.com/Hanakah.htm

Joss sticks in Ang Mo Kio Industrial

I went to the Joss stick maker - Tay Guan Heng. He specializes in hand-crafted figurines and artworks. All the figurines and joss sticks are made with natual wood powder. He also gives workshops, talks and demonstrations. He also does art workshops for children's parties.
His details: Tel: 6454 1252 Singapore. Or handphone: 9617 5918 Singapore. The address: Blk 4001 Ang Mo Kio Ind. PK 1 #01-25 Singapore. He is open from Monday to Saturday: 9:30am - 6pm.

He makes the small joss sticks one sees people use when they pray in the temples. They use 3 joss sticks at a time to communicate to their god. He also makes the very big joss sticks which get burnt at funerals and I have seen them being burnt at Chinese New Year too.

This guy is busy spraypainting the big joss sticks.

The figurines are beautiful.

It is a very nice clay medium to use. Feels pleasant on ones fingers, shapes easy and gets to be air dried. He got us all to make a hand. By the time I got back home a couple of hours later, my hand was dry, but got a bit broken. I bought the wood powder, so I can either fix the hand, except 2 tiny fingers also broke off, or I can make a new hand.

Some interesting sites: http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?/topic/9805-historical-origin-of-joss-sticks-and-incense/ 

http://markkay.wordpress.com/2011/08/16/why-the-chinese-pray-with-joss-sticks/

Paper craft and ancestor worship

Here is a very good site for a good amount of information on ancester worship. http://www.thaiworldview.com/hongkong/religion/ancestor.htm
The Chinese believe in looking after their deceased. So after the death of a loved one, they will burn certain replicas of earthly goods the deceased would like to have in the afterlife. I went to see some of hte replicas being made at a factory in Ang Mo Kio in Singapore. I took photos of the houses they were busy building with bamboo sticks and paper. This makes for easy transport and burning.

This family specialises in making houses. First the frames are made with bamboo sticks. They join the sticks with pieces of strong paper and some what looks like home made glue. The maker has a band on his wrist with a blob of glue on.

Then the frames get covered with white paper and over the white paper comes coloured paper. The houses vary greatly in sizes. They are made according to the size the customer wants and the items added to the house are also per customer request. The next photo is a small piece of a much bigger house like the one in the photo that was shown to me.

Inside the houses are also rooms, just like in a normal house.

Then of course the house may have deceases family members living in it. And don't forget servants.

A very intersting factory to visit.

Ang Mo Kio Industrial, Singapore

This is an industrial area in Singapore. My first impression was that it was very clean. I went with the Friends of the Museums on an outing. We parked near this market which was also very clean and a real pleasure to walk through. Clean washrooms too. After our outing we had lunch in the foodcourt at this market and had delicious food. I had my favourite ji fan or chicken rice.