It's very easy to know when Nine Emperor Gods celebration is coming, you can judge it by referring to the weather after Mooncake Festival.. RAIN EVERYDAY!!! During the celebrations, believers will be vegetarian for 9 days and wear white shirt. Why?? Perhaps this is one of the popular tradition =) Each day will have a different ceremony..
八月三十：挂高灯、接神（若该年八月没有三十，就在八月二十九开始）
中午12时把"高灯"挂起，通知各方善信，九皇爷诞开始举行。晚上(时间由神明通过乩童指示)由主席、执委、炉主、道士、乩童、善信等人，抬著三顶辇桥，到河边迎接九皇爷。接神回来，有"下马供"的仪式(类似"开幕"的意思)，同时由道士念经、印符。初二晚：接元帅
也是由神明通过札重指示，在某个时间去接元帅。初三、初六、初九：犒赏军兵这三天的下午开始，煮备数百桶的斋菜来拜祭，犒赏九皇爷的军兵，过后供善信进食。初三、初六、初九：犒赏军兵
这三天的下午开始，煮备数百桶的斋菜来拜祭，犒赏九皇爷的军兵，过后供善信进食。初八：过平安桥、过火炕
在庙前空地搭一座临时木桥，晚上7时开始，男女老幼都可上桥，道士在旁为过桥的人祈福，过了桥万事平安。约晚上8时，由乩童带领善信过火坑，赤脚踏著灼烫的火炭，以祈身体平安、洗尽霉运、消灾解难。 (善信们必须吃了10天的斋才可参加过火坑;以表诚心，而且据说过火坑时很顺利，不会有意外。)初九：送神
这天晚上，也就是送九皇爷回銮的日子。全体善信举行大敬拜，有"送别"的意思。并有舞龙舞狮参与，善信拿着香，齐送别到河边，沿途住家也设有香案拜别。送神回来后，取下高灯，即意谓九皇爷诞的庆典的过去了。(Grabbed the information from here)
There is a lot of version on the Nine Emperor Gods story.. but so far i think the information that i read from Wikipedia is the correct one :
The Nine Emperor Gods Jiǔ Huáng Xīng Jūn / Jiǔ Huáng Da Di (九皇星君/九皇大帝) are the nine sons manifested by Father Emperor Zhou Yu Dou Fu Yuan Jun (斗父周御國王天尊) and Mother of the Big Dipper Dou Mu Yuan Jun (斗母元君) who holds the Registrar of Life and Death. The worship of Dou Fu Yuan Jun has declined strongly as proper teachings of Taoism degenerate since being exported out of China. Today, most Nine Emperor God temples do not acknowledge the existence of Dou Fu Yuan Jun. However, Dou Fu Yuan Jun is invoked alongside Dou Mu Yuan Jun in Great Dipper Honouring known as Li Dou (禮斗) ceremonies. According To Priest Long Hua, the 35th Generation Leader of Long Shan Men Taoist Sect (Singapore), honouring the Northern Dipper stars prolongs one's life, eliminate calamities, and absolves sins and past debts of oneself and his family.
The term Ye (爺) as in Jiu Huang Ye (九皇爺) loosely translates as "Grandfather", a title worshipers commonly use to bring a more intimate relationship between themselves and the Nine Emperors. The Nine Emperor Gods should not be mixed up with the Wang Ye or Princes of the Ming rebels. Popular folk culture has it that the Nine Emperor Gods are actually sea pirates of the Ming dynasty that plotted to overthrow the Qing dynasty. According to Priest Long Hua, this information is inaccurate and considered derogatory to the actual teachings of Taoism as the Nine Emperor Gods are actually high ranking Star Lords who preside over the movement of planets and coordinate mortal Life and Death issues.
The Nine Emperors is formed by the 7 stars of the Big Dipper of the North Ursa Major (visible) and two assistant stars (invisible). When viewed closely, the arrangement of the 7 stars "the Ladle" and the 2 assistant stars on its left and right resembles a Yin-Yang pattern form.
The Nine Emperor Stars are:
- Tan Lang Tai Xing Jun (貪狼太星君)1st Star (Visible) Bayer: α UMa
- Ju Men Yuan Xing Jun (巨門元星君) 2nd Star (Visible) Bayer: β UMa
- Lu Cun Zhen Xing Jun (祿存貞星君) 3rd Star (Visible) Bayer: γ UMa
- Wen Qu Niu Xing Jun (文曲紐星君) 4th Star (Visible) Bayer: δ UMa
- Lian Zhen Gang Xing Jun (玉廉貞綱星君) 5th Star(Visible) Bayer: ε UMa
- Wu Qu Ji Xing Jun (武曲紀星君) 6th Star(Visible) Bayer: ζ UMa
- Po Jun Guan Xing Jun (破軍關星君) 7th Star (Visible) Bayer: η UMa
- Zuo Fu Da Dao Xing Jun (左輔大道星君) 8th Star (Invisible)
- You Bi Da Dao Xing Jun (右弼大道星君) 9th Star (Invisible)
Ok, done with the introduction. Now let's move on to what's happening on that day. We joined half way of the "march" in Kota Bharu and walked about 10km?? to Pantai Cahaya Bulan to send off the Nine Emperor Gods. The journey is quite long compared to the road i always walk on Wesak day but we had fun. The Nine Emperor Gods will "dance" a while when there is a junction in the road and the child medium will keep turning.. People will just shout "siam ah (ask you to moved aside)" to let the God pass through.. Never ever block their road! As far as I know, i think they danced in the junction is because accident normally occurred in the junction, so they will just pray at there so that less accident will be happen.
While all the prayers were preparing some kind of ceremony like recite, preparing all the vege food for the God before they leave and so on.. Some of the prayers help to sell wishing light for the believers, each wishing light will cost about RM5.
After all the ceremony has been done, we called to get 24 praying sticks and pray the East, South, West and North. At 11pm sharp, they begin to burn the huge ship to release the Nine Emperor Gods back to their respective place (should be heaven).
Before the celebration ended, students of UMK have to get back to the lorry to go back to the respective hostel. The night is cold and when rain drops on our head, you can feel the frowziness plus the strong wind blowing our hair, hands and legs were just non-stop shaking but we are just hardly to move around.
Overall, we all enjoyed very much on that day and the most important is, the sincerity of us towards the Nine Emperor Gods will always be there. Amithabha.
