IDNO

N.54034.ELT

Description

Festival of Ch'i-t'ien Ta-sheng (齊天大聖, qi tian da sheng, 'Great Saint Equal with Heaven' (commonly transcribed as the 'Monkey God'), outside a Chinese temple on or near Balestier Road, Singapore. [Elliott's listing]
An assistant supports the shoulders of a dang-ki spirit medium, an older man wearing cloth headdress and loose trousers, who is lying supine on a bed of blades. [EB 10/01/2018]

Place

SE Asia; Singapore; Balestier Road

Cultural Affliation

Chinese

Named Person

Photographer

None

Collector / Expedition

Elliott, Alan J.A.

Date

1950 - 1951

Collection Name

Elliott Collection

Source

Elliott, Alan J. A.

Format

Film Negative Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

N.53977.ELT to N.54087.ELT were found inside the album now numbered A.155.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. 179 pp., 6 plates, Appendices. Related text on p. 129 reads 'The cult [on Balestier Road] holds a festival once a year on a date a few days earlier than that which is taken as the major anniversary of most "Great Saint" cults. This festival follows the usual pattern of spirit-medium celebrations, but the more spectacular feats that are performed are not undertaken by the dang-ki himself. He engages a number of young dang-ki from other temples for this purpose, and in due course reciprocates by honouring the festivals held at these other temples with his presence in the role of the "Great Saint".' [EB 16/01/2018]

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 "A tang-ki rolls across a ‘knife-bed’ supported by an assistant. MAA N.54034.ELT." [source: https://www.museums.cam.ac.uk/story/chinese-spirit-medium-possession-singapore/, JD 12/02/2025]