Nine Emperor Gods Festival
This 9 days long celebration of the Festival of the Nine Emperor Gods is an annual event that fall on the 9th month of the Lunar Calendar. Celebrated mostly by devotees of the Jiu Wang Yeh sect, the usually quiet temple on Burma Road, Penang is a hive of activity.
Prior to the start of the nine day celebrations, devout worshippers already start on a vegetarian diet and will continue for the next nine days. The festival kicks off with the deities being received by temples elders and devout worshippers.
It is believed that the Gods have to be entertained during their visit thus traditional opera and dances are staged throughout the nine days. Therefore the roads to the temple would be lined with yellow coloured banner and stalls that sells food and tidbits that caters to the vegetarian diet that is being observed by the devotees.
All around Penang, many stalls would be set up at the roadside bearing yellow banners to sell food to the hundreds of devotees.
Many also take the opportunity to renew their faith and perform their religious devotion and piety during this nine day period so that the coming year would be favourable for them. Hundreds and thousand of worshippers throng the temple each day, lighting joss sticks both big and small.
The climax of the festival is on the ninth day where the Gods are entertained for the final time and worshippers made their final tribute before the entourage proceeded for the sent off to the sea where they first “arrived”.