Tuesday 24 February 2009

Fu De Zheng Shen Manifestation Anniversary (福德正神壽誕祭祀)


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Fu De Zheng Shen (福德正神) aka Deity of Earth, considered as the First Deity of Earth that being Officially Bestowed to take care of the Mortals in the Mortal Realm.

According to Records, Fu De Zheng Shen's full name was known as Zhang Fu De (張福德), a loyal servant of a richman. Due to Zhang Fu De was willingly to sarcrisfy for his Master's daughter, Zhang Fu De was being appointed by Jade Emperor of Heaven (玉皇大天尊) as the Main Fu De Zheng Shen in the Mortal Realm to take care of All the needys.

As recorded, the 2nd Day of Lunar 2 Month was known as the Birthday or Manifestation Anniversary of Zhang Fu De. And so, in Taoist Culture, Taoists & Chinese will needed to prepare the necessary Offerings for Fu De Zheng Shen as a form of Gratitude and Respect.

On the 2nd Day of Lunar 2 Month, it is also known as Tou Ya (頭牙) - The First Feasting Day for Deity of Earth. On this Day, for those who Operates a Company, as the Boss, oneself will needed to pay respect Fu De Zheng Shen in-order to get the necessary Blessing for the smoothness of the Business for the New Lunar Year (or the next 11 Months).

In the following, some Food & Paper Offerings that oneself needed to prepare before the honouring:

Food Offerings

1) 1 or 3 Sets of Fruits (一至三色水果)

2) Fa Gao aka Huat Kueh (發糕)

3) Hong Gui Guo aka Ang Ku Kueh (紅龜粿)

4) Shou Tao aka Longevity Peach Bun (壽桃)

5) Shou Mian aka Longevity Noodles (壽面)

6) Rice Wine aka Bai Mi Jiu (白米酒)

7) Chinese Tea (茗茶)

8) 3 types of Meat Offerings (三牲禮) - Optional
Incenses & Paper Offerings

1) 1 Set of Good Quality Long Incenses (長壽香 about 48 cm)

2) 1 Pack of Good Quality Short Incenses (平安香)

3) 1 Pair of Red Candles or Dou Zhu (紅燭/斗燭)

4) 3 Stacks of Shou Jin aka San Bao Jin (壽金/三寶金 )

5) 3 Stacks/Packs Da Gui Ren aka Men Wai Gui Ren Lu Ma Zhi (大貴人/門外貴人祿馬紙)

6) 3 Stacks/Packs Gui Ren Zhi (貴人紙 )

7) 3 Stacks/Packs of Tu Di Jin (土地金)

10) Blue Paper Robes (藍色神袍 )

Once All the necessary Offerings are being prepared, on the 1st Night (農曆二月初一晚), you can actually lay them out onto the Altar.

When the timing strikes 0000 Hour, you can start to pay your respect to Fu De Zheng Shen.

For those who prefer to pay respect on the 2nd Day Morning, you are encouraged to do that too.

After 3 rounds of Tea & Wine are being Offered, send off the Paper-offerings. After sending off of the Paper-offerings, retrieved the Food items and distribute them out to Family Members and Friends. Allowed them to get the necessary Blessings too.

Remain the Fa Gao and 1 set of Oranges on the Altar, only retrieved them on the 3rd Day.

25 comments:

  1. Hi Javewu, care to share why do we offer 土地金 while we are praying to 福德正神. Can we offer 福德正神 joss paper which is pack in a box which is available in the market.

    Thanks and Regards

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tu Di Jin usually is being packed in a Pack and then sold the whole Packet to the Taoists or Chinese. Such Package are usually being used by the Cantonese or Teochew Clan, whereas the Hokkien wont be using it.

    In the Package, you will be the normal San Bao Jin aka Shou Jin (三寶壽金), Tu Di Jin Zhi (土地金紙), Gui Ren Paper (貴人紙), 5 Directional Dragons (五方神土龍), Small Petition (小奏章), Hell-note (冥幣), Kai Lu Qian (開路錢) and Brown-Urn Paper aka Ju Bao Pen (聚寶盆).

    For Official Taoists, we will take out the Hell-note and burn separately, if not, we will just throw it off.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks Javewu for your respond. So how do Hokkien Clan pray? I mean what type of paper offerings are they using.

    So those 福德正神金 sold in a box is not necessary? I would like to learn more on Joss paper usuage, as I can see more and more types of Joss paper is being sold on the market. eg. Kuan Teh Kim, Ah Pek Kim etc. Hope you can write some articles on Joss paper usuage and the meaning behind it.

    Thanks and Regards

    ReplyDelete
  4. For Hokkien Clan, we just used San Bao Jin aka Shou Jin & Da Xiao Gui Ren will do.

    Those in Boxes are new products from Taiwan, some stuffs inside are not usable, so usually for Taoism, we dont use them.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for your quick respond. Cheers and Good day.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Master Jave, I think kenneth is right. Maybe you could write an article as a guide to expose what products are genuine Taoist articles, and what are sold just for commercial purposes. It would be a great guide to help the ignorant, and expose the false. All will benefit, even non-Taoists, because they will know how to separate the true from the false. Thank you Master Jave!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yup, will do some intro on that as soon as I can.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi Shifu, I heard: getting one's hair cut on this day (2nd day of lunar 2nd month) is supposed to bring good luck. Is it correct? any reason of this from daoist point of view?
    Thx in advance.

    Warm regards,

    ReplyDelete
  9. Can say so, this is an old belief. No harm trying.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Master Jave, i always thought 福德正神 is 大伯公, i am wrong? Both look similar... very confusing. Please enlighten. Thanks. :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Yup, this is the Deity that alot of people mistaken. Da Bo Gong can only known as the Earth Deity of the Area. Whereas Fu De Zheng Shen, there are only 1, which is the main one that being bestowed thousand yrs ago.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi Jave,
    If i want an altar dedicated to Fu De Zheng Shen in my house what are requirements especially for someone in Europe?
    I honour Heavenly Deities but have no real altar,then should i not have a real altar before having an altar to Fu De Zheng Shen.?

    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thats ok for you to have an altar. just get a small one will do.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Jave,if you don't mind or when you have the time,can you give some guidelines or details on what and how to setup the altar and whats needed?
    Can i just have a small table or furniture for FuDeZhengShen ?Should the altar of FuDe face the frontdoor or diagonal facing the door?
    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Cos I dont know how big is you statue for Fu De and who you are engaging for the Dotting, etc, so I cant guide you much on this now.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Jave,thanks again for taking the time to answer my questions.

    At the moment i don't have a statue of Fu De,sorry to give you the impression that i have,i was interested and wonder how setup an altar or table for Fu De.
    Also i have no statue of Fu De or any other Deity yet because its difficult to find someone here with a decent background to perform the dotting.


    I cannot setup myself a simple table or altar inside my house dedicated to or for Fu De with or without statue,because don't how to invite or do not know the right procedures,right?

    ReplyDelete
  17. For this case, you can write to me at my email javecxwu@gmail.com, from there, I see how I can assist you in setting up the altar. for the moment, the most important is to get the statue.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hi Jave,
    I will email you when i got the statue of Fu De.
    Thanks for helping.

    ReplyDelete
  19. If you are getting the statue of Fu De, you shall also get the person to assist you in the setting up of the Altar.

    Cos different statues have different ways of setting up. For this, I cant help you much.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hi Jave,
    [quote] if you are getting the statue of Fu De, you shall also get the person to assist you in the setting up of the Altar.

    Cos different statues have different ways of setting up. For this, I cant help you much.[/quote]
    Oh,i did not know that.I was thinking of looking at online shop for Fu De.

    Sorry,i think i have misunderstood you when you said,
    "I see how I can assist you in setting up the altar. for the moment, the most important is to get the statue."
    I thought that you only can help me when i have statue to setup the altar...


    I will email you right away if its still possible to help me with setting up the altar.

    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Yup, there are quite a number of things to look into, especially choosing a statue and performing the dotting.

    If you are keen, email to me.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Hi Master Jave,
    can i understand more bout da bo gong and fu de zheng shen? i've been to some temple and they write there is fu de zheng shen, some say its also same as tu di gong~

    How do we offer wine and tea?

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  23. Hi Jave, care to explain what's the difference between(大貴人/門外貴人祿馬紙)and (貴人紙)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Kayden,

      You can find some intro from here:

      http://javewutaoismplace.blogspot.sg/2008/08/introduction-on-using-of-gui-ren-paper.html

      Delete

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