Nine Emperor Gods Myths~Kiu Ong Ya

Yesterday I went to Lip Sin for my dinner after work and there are celebrating Nine Emperor Gods Festival. There's a lot of people waiting to cross the "Peng An Kio (peaceful brige)" altought it's raining. It make me wonder how this Festival came from. Whats the story? And I started to investigate how Kiu Ong Ya (Nine Emperor Gods) come..

There are, in fact, many written and unwritten versions of the Nine Emperor Gods myth.

The Classic Version
One of the earliest versions of the Nine Emperor Gods myth is linked to the story of the Nine Human Sovereigns Viurenhuang. The Nine Human Sovereigns, who, according to legend, lived in China thousands of years ago are Tianying, Tianren, Tianzhu, Tianxin, Tianqin, Tianfu, Tianchong, Tianrui, and Tianpeng. Tianying, the eldest, is sometimes called Jiutoushi. The Nine Emperor Gods are said to be the reincarnations of these monarchs. In Dore's account, the Nine Human Sovereigns are identified as the sons of Doumu. Doumu, also called Tianlao (the Grand One in Heaven), Daomu(the Mother of the Way), Doumu Tianzun (the Heaven-honored Big Dipper Mother), or Doulao (Old Woman of the Big Dipper),' is said to have gained enlightenment after many years of meditation and occult study, and to have imparted her knowledge to the sons. Her spiritual power so impressed Yuanshi Tianzun (Primordial Heaven) that she and her husband, Cheng Jucong (the king of Zhouyu , Doufu Tianzun the Heaven-honored Big Dipper Father), were placed in control of the pivot of the north pole, around which the nine stars of the Big Dipper revolved under the surveillance of the nine sons. Together they were endowed with the power of controlling the heavens and the existence of all earthly creatures below.

The Han Version
A second written version, given by DOOLITTLE(1 966), is also little known among devotees, but nevertheless contains several of the motifs basic to many of the Malaysian myths of the Nine Emperor Gods (myths that often differ significantly from place to place and sometimes from
temple to temple in the same region). Doolittle's version dates back to the end of the Han dynasty, when the Taoist magician Zhang Daoling (Zhang Tianshi) used charms and talismans to cure the afflicted. Those consulting him were required to pay five pecks of rice, because of which his cult was nicknamed wudoumi dao (the way of the five pecks of rice). Some accounts claim that he used magic to spread epidemics, causing people to turn to him for treatment. By so doing he became wealthy and powerful, so much so that he no longer bothered to pay taxes to the royal court.

Aware of his actions, the emperor summoned him to the palace to teach him a lesson. In preparation the emperor ordered nine scholar musicians into a secret compartment and told them to start playing eerie music as soon as a secret switch was thrown. When Zhang Daoling was before him the emperor threw the switch, then asked Zhang to exorcise the "spirits" that were causing unrest in the palace. The emperor was certain that Zhang would fail and thus be humiliated. His plan backfired, however. Upon being challenged to exorcise the demons, Zhang calmly looked around the palace. He then unfolded his magic fan, which immediately revealed the whereabouts of the musicians. He scattered some rice and salt on the floor, then made a chop with his magic sword. All nine scholars in the secret compartment were beheaded and the eerie music came to a halt. Because of his fear that the nine scholar-musicians would haunt the
palace, the emperor ordered the severed heads to be interred in a large earthenware vase. The vase was sealed, labeled with a talisman paper to prevent the spirits from escaping, then thrown into the sea. Shortly afterwards, however, the emperor was disturbed night after night by dreams in which the bloody apparitions of the nine musicians appeared, asking him to canonize them as the "Nine Emperor Gods." The emperor was too frightened to refuse. This version, as mentioned above, has served as a model for many of the oral myths circulating among devotees. The main difference is that Doolittle's version ends at the nine scholars' canonization by the emperor, while many of the oral versions recount the adventures of the nine severed heads in the earthenware vase and their final ascent to heaven. Some genres emphasize the white blood that oozed from the heads, thus accounting for devotees' wearing of white headgear during the festival.

Nan Tian Gong Version
The Nan Tian Gong account is one that takes the Han version a bit further, relating that some fishermen found a vase floating in the sea off Kongka (Songkhla). Strange voices came from it, calling for help. As the fisherman's boat approached the vase a voice beseeched them to remove
the talisman paper and unseal the vase. They did as they were told, and saw nine heads soaring into the sky in broad daylight! Later one of the fishermen had a dream in which the nine divine
brothers warned him of an impending storm, but assured him that he would be safe if he erected a flag on the masthead with "Jiuhuangye" (Nine Emperor Gods) written on it. The fisherman followed the instruction, but the other crews just laughed at him when he advised them to do
the same. Sure enough, the next time they set sail there was an unusually fierce storm, and all the boats except the one bearing the flag were wrecked and their crews drowned.

The Penang Version
The Penang version suggests that the Festival of the Nine Emperor Gods is held in remembrance of the nine brothers associated with the last prince of the Ming dynasty. These brothers, from a fishing village in Fujian Province, are said to have helped the prince escape by forming a
squad that escorted him from Fujian to Songkhla, Thailand, via Yunnan. They arrived in Songkhla under the guidance of the nine northern stars; after their arrival the stars gradually disappeared, and so did the prince and the nine divine brothers. Shortly afterwards, the story goes, nine censers were found floating on the sea near Songkhla (some accounts mention instead Phuket Island, off the west coast of southern Thailand). The censers were believed to be
the manifestations of the nine divine brothers, who had since ascended to the southern heavens. Their spirits, however, continue to visit the Chinese community during their yearly tour of the South Seas. Censers, regarded as the vehicles of the Nine Emperor Gods, are still used in the
welcoming and sending-off ceremonies of the festival.

Ampang Version
This version relates the connection of the Hong Secret Society (hongmenhui or hong banghui '2flit) in Penang to the Festival of the Nine Emperor Gods. According to this account, a Hong member by the name of Wan Yunlong was killed in a battle with the Qing forces at Changsha, Hunan, on the ninth day of the ninth month 1783. His followers fled to Thailand, where, rebuffed by the Thai authorities, they moved south to the Penang area in present-day Malaysia. Some Hong members settled in Ampang, where they worked as planters and farmers and organized
a clandestine movement to overthrow the Qing and restore the Ming . Once when this group was performing an initiation ritual for new recruits the police came to investigate. When they inquired about the purpose of the gathering, the group replied that it was praying for peace
and protection. Seeing that there was only an incense urn and no image of any sort, the police said, "There's no deity here - what are you worshipping?" Thereupon one quick-witted soul pointed at the incense urn and replied, "This is the god we worship!" Amused by the answer, the police asked, "If this incense urn is your god, then what is it called?" Another member replied, "It is called Jiuhuang Dadi"


The police took their word for it and departed. This accounts for the use of an incense urn to represent the Nine Emperor Gods during the festival. This version owes its credibility to the fact that Arnpang is still a stronghold of secret-society activity. The name Ampang itself is a legacy of the Triad group known as the Tiandihui (Heaven and Earth Society): Ampang was originally Anbang (dark society or secret society), which was later changed to Anbang (peaceful society). It is quite suggestive in this regard that during the Festival of the Nine Emperor Gods two texts that signify the Tiandihui - the Tiangongjing [The scripture of the heavenly father] and Dimujing [The scripture of the earthly mother) - are read in the temples.

Other version
The 9th of Sept of Chinese Calender for Kiu Ong is to remain that the 9 pirates death. If you visit any of praying ceremony,you will see the situation is like giving last respect ( like someone die, we will do the saikong things).or know as “cuo-ki” and yet, all the foods selling around this ceremony MUST BE vegeterian. This version is most probably non written and spread from old generation to the young. Many of Penangnite belief this version~ So How bout you?

Source
CHEU HOCK TONG
National University of Singapore The Festival of the Nine Emperor Gods in Malaysia: Myth, Ritual, and Symbol Abstract