2013
Sep
27

Seah Eu Chin 130th Anniversary

14

 

Dateline 27 September 2013

This morning descendants and members of  the Poit Ip Huay Kuan marked the 130th anniversary of Teochew leader and King of Gambier, Seah Eu Chin (1805-1883).  In November 2012, his grave was found by the Goh brothers, Raymond and Charles. And since then descendants have been making tracks up to Grave Hill, in Toa Payoh to pay their respects.

“Under the initiation of Teochew Poit It Huay Kuan and the endorsement of Ngee Ann Kongsi, it was a great moment in current Singapore Teochew history that many Teochew Organizations and Seah family members gathered  at Seah Eu Chin’s tomb for a memorial service for his 130th death anniversary.” Zaobao 28 Sept 2013 (translated by Raymond Goh)

130 Anniversary Seah Eu Chin  Newspapre report

130 Anniversary Seah Eu Chin Zaobao Report 28 September 2013

Today offerings were made at the grave which had been prepared for the occasion. Thank you to Brownie, Khoo Ee Hoon for documenting this commemoration of Seah Eu Chin.

130 Anniversary Seah Eu Chin B _ Ee Hoon

Floral Tributes for Seah Eu Chin (photo Khoo Ee Hoon)

130 Anniversary Seah Eu Chin C _ Ee Hoon

Descendants and members of Poit Ip Huay Kuan making offerings (photo Khoo Ee Hoon)

130 Anniversary Seah Eu Chin A _ Ee Hoon

Burning offerings ( photo Khoo Ee Hoon)

130 Anniversary Seah Eu Chin F _ Catherine

2 days before the 130th Anniversary when the Brownies visited, the marquee was already up and grave cleared (photo Catherine Lim)

IV with Yen Yen _Seah Eu Chin_Ee Hoon

Zaobao reporter Yen Yen who covered the discovery of Seah Eu Chin’s tomb a year back was at the 130 Anniversary to interview descendants ( photo Khoo Ee Hoon)

130 Anniversary Seah Eu Chin _ Ee Hoon

Members of Poit Ip and descendants of Seah Eu Chin (photo Khoo Ee Hoon)

130 Anniversary Seah Eu Chin  Poit Ip _ Ee Hoon

Members of Poit Ip Huay Kuan who were responsible for the major preparations for the 130 Anniversary of Seah Eu Chin (photo Khoo Ee Hoon)

Both Raymond and Charles Goh were in attendance at the anniversary this morning.

Postscript: Raymond reporting from the event posted this photo on the facebook group page.

“”It is a remembrance ceremony on the occasion of 130th death anniversary of Seah Eu Chin’s death. An eulogy was read out during the memorial service.”

Offerings 130 Anniversary Seah Eu Chin  Poit Ip _ Raymond

Layout of offerings for 130 Anniversary Seah Eu Chin (photo Raymond Goh)

From Sugen Ramiah commenting on the layout of the offerings on the table  : What you see above is a Teochew style remembrance. What is seen follows a hierarchy – 5 sets of rice, wine and tea served . Twelve buns/kuehs, odd numbers of poultry and seafood and odd numbers of fruits offerings.

There were 3 chairs placed in the front of the offerings (not seen in the photo above)

From Tay Hung YongThe three chairs are meant for Seah Eu Chin and his two wives (correct me if I am wrong). The 5 sacrificial animal offerings are quite common among Southern Chinese. There should be at least 8 different dishes. Twelve buns represent 12 months in the calendar. For Teochews, fruit offerings are usually in 4 not 5. The joss paper they offered are usually meant for deities.

Editors note: In any ritual there are different interpretations on  how they are conducted and how the different offerings are  laid out.

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