IDNO

N.53894.ELT

Description

Ch'i-t'ien Ta-sheng (齊天大聖, qi tian da sheng, 'Great Saint Equal with Heaven' ceremony (commonly transcribed as the 'Monkey God' ceremony) at a Chinese temple in Singapore.
The temple is probably the former Soon Tian Keng (Shun Tian Gong) at Bukit Permei. [suggested by Taoism Singapore Facebook Group]

The Dang-ki (spirit medium), an older man enacting the Ch'i-t'ien Ta-sheng, has his face painted and wears a headdress and siu to (繡肚, xiudu, stomacher, apron) with silk trousers. He is holding a bundle of burning incense sticks to his tongue while standing with knees bent in front of a doorway with participants and spectators gathered behind. A man playing a drum is to the left. [EB 10/10/2017]

Place

SE Asia; Singapore; Bukit Permei; Soon Tian Keng; Shun Tian Gong

Cultural Affliation

Chinese

Named Person

Photographer

Elliott, Alan J.A.

Collector / Expedition

Date

1950 - 1951

Collection Name

Elliott Collection

Source

Elliott, Alan J. A.

Format

Film Negative Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

N.62994.ELT to N.62999.ELT and N.53873.ELT to N.53976.ELT were found inside the album now numbered A.154.ELT.

Bibliographical Reference: Chinese Spirit-Medium Cults in Singapore. Alan J. A. Elliott. (Monographs on Social Anthropology, No. 14.) London: London School of Economics and Political Science, 1955. Related text on p.64 concerning trance phenomena reads "In cases where the dang-ki extinguished a bunch of burning incense sticks with his tongue, he sometimes partially damps the burning ends in a cup of water before putting them out in his mouth. Even when he does not do this, he often picks off the brighter embers with his fingers first. He then licks around the tops of the sticks before putting the remnants of the now faintly glowing embers inside his mouth. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that some of the fire comes in contact with his tongue, as can be seen from the steam that sometimes comes out between his lips."

Publication: Image published in a Digital Lab Online Exhibition by Gemma Ovens, 2024. 'Chinese Spirit-Medium Possession: Exploring Ritual and Religion in the Photographic Archives of Alan J. A. Elliott' and captioned "During a ceremony of the ‘Monkey God,’ an older tang-ki extinguishes burning incense on his tongue. MAA N.53894.ELT." [source: https://www.museums.cam.ac.uk/story/chinese-spirit-medium-possession-singapore/, JD 12/02/2025]