Although they are physically adults, they remain as children spiritually. However, by dint of the date and time they are born (called the Eight Characters, or sheng chen ba zi, 生辰八字, in Mandarin), some adults never become fully filled vessels. Adults are fully filled vessels, while children are half-full vessels that fill up only in adulthood. Tangki Possession and PerformanceĪccording to Chinese folk religion, humans are likened to vessels. From this side of the tent, devotees step out to pray to the open sky, where the face of Heaven is. 3Īt the southern end of the tent is the altar to Tiangong (天公), the Heavenly Emperor, and his three-tiered papier-mâché palace. 2 On the right of the San Qing altar (the western side of the tent) is the altar to the spirits of the Underworld. To the left of the San Qing altar (that is, the eastern part of the tent) is the altar of the Five Celestial Armies (五营兵将). The San Qing altar, which is the main altar to the Three Pure Ones, 1 and to the patron god of the tangki, is placed on this stage. Here, banners bearing images of the San Qing (三清) – the Daoist triumvirate representing the emanations of pure Tao cosmic energy – are hung. The main stage is erected at the northern end of the tent. Within the tent, the major elements are arranged along cardinal points. The casual observer might struggle to understand what is going on, but here, as with most religious rituals, things have a certain structure and logic. Under the tent, one would encounter large crowds, noisy drums and gongs, and bare-chested men going into a trance, hitting themselves with weapons and drawing blood, and moving in a strange fashion. It used to be a common sight on weekends in housing estates in Singapore: colourful flags planted on grass verges marking a trail to a large tent where Chinese spirit-mediums would be hard at work. As these people are also found in Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia, tangki worship is also practised in these countries, including Singapore. The Minnan diaspora comprises the Hokkien, Hockchew, Henghua and Hainanese communities, which are well represented in Singapore. Tangki spirit-medium worship has its origins in the people of the Minnan (闽南) region of Fujian province, located along China’s southeastern coast. When they are possessed, tangki are regarded as incarnated gods. Tangki allow their bodies to be possessed by gods, spirits and deities, and they serve as a vessel for these entities. In Thailand, they are known as masong (马送 in Mandarin), while in Kalimantan they are called tatung ( datong 大同 in Mandarin). They are known by various names: in Singapore, they are called tangki, which is Hokkien for spirit-medium (in Mandarin, they are known as tongji 童乩, which means “child diviner”, or jitong 乩童, which means “divining child”). These men, and they are usually men, are Chinese spirit-mediums. Meanwhile in West Kalimantan, steel wires bristle like catfish whiskers around the mouth of an Indonesian medium. In Phuket, an umbrella is grotesquely twisted into a gaping wound on the face of his Thai counterpart. In Singapore, the sprit-medium stares straight ahead as five long skewers are driven through the flesh of his back. Ronni Pinsler Collection, courtesy of National Archives of Singapore. When it is time for the person to die, he orders his counterpart, the Black Deity, or Ji Ah Pek, to fetch that person’s soul to hell. Toa Ah Pek, the White Deity, is said to calculate the length of a person’s life. Dressed in white, he is one half of the two deities known as Heibai Wuchang (黑白无常). A medium possessed by the hell deity Toa Ah Pek, 1978.
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