Tin Kong – The Ancient of The Chinese

My Red Wallet

I chose this day to change my wallet to a bright red one I bought before the new year. Today is the day where the Chinese especially the Hokkiens, pay tribute to ‘Tin Kong.’  It is a day of worship, a day of consecration on the ninth day of the Lunar New Year. The night before, fireworks were displayed in full splendour while the thunderous sound of firecrackers echoed through the neighbourhood as they light them up in succession to welcome the ‘God In Heaven.’ Just two days ago on the seventh day of the new year, the Chinese celebrated ‘Yan Yat,’ which means ‘A Day of Mankind’ or ‘Everyone’s Birthday.’ Then in the days to come, ‘Chap Goh Mei’ marks the fifteenth night & the final day of the Chinese New Year celebrations.

Looking at all these customs, never have I once asked what they all meant as we (the Chinese) had accepted them as part of growing up & were taught to keep traditions alive. So what is the meaning of these 15 days & how did all these originate? ‘Kor Nin’ symbolises the coming/passing of the new year but the word ‘nin’ actually means monster/beast. The Nokia phone ad is a great depiction of how the ‘nin’ comes by, terrorises the princess in the carriage, got deserted by her carriers & rescued by a courageous boy with a string of firecrackers to ward the ‘nin’ off. Finding no match to light up, he suffered a blow then goes off to borrow a Nokia mobile phone that his friends had been using to download ringtones & by playing the ‘firecracker’ tone, caused the monster to disintegrate! The ‘Hong’ (red) is also very prominent in the auspicious celebration which is supposed to ward off the ‘nin.’ The hanging of a red cloth on the door frame does exactly that but these days, it’s supposed to ward off evil which is no surprise if the whole house is decorated with red ornaments!!! What a prosperous scene. No pun intended but this is exactly what ‘kor nin’ depicts. The 5000 years of Chinese history, had preserved traditions from the roots of our forefathers to modern times.

When God used Moses to deliver Israel out of Egypt, He did signs & wonders to cause the Pharaoh to release the captives yet hardened his heart at the same time. He gave an order to keep the ordinance for all generations.

From Exodus 12:1

And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, this month shall be to you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you.

Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, in the tenth of this month they shall take to them each man a lamb for a father’s house, a lamb for a house. And if the household is too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take according to the number of the souls, each one, according to the eating of his mouth, you shall count concerning the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You shall take from the sheep or from the goats. And you shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month. And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take some of the blood and strike on the two side posts and upon the upper door post of the houses in which they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roasted with fire, and unleavened bread. They shall eat it with bitter herbs. Do not eat of it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted with fire, its head with its legs, and with its inward parts. And you shall not let any of it remain until the morning. And that which remains of it until the morning you shall burn with fire. And you shall eat of it this was with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in a hurry. It is the Lord’s passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. And the blood shall be a sign to you upon the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you. And the plague shall not be upon you for a destruction when I smite in the land of Egypt. And this day shall be a memorial to you. And you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by a law forever. You shall eat unleavened bread seven days; even the first day you shall put away leaven out of your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.

The Ordinance of New Year.

And on the first day shall be a holy gathering, and in the seventh day there shall be a holy gathering for you. No manner of work shall be done in them, except that which every man must eat, that only may be done by you. And you shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For in this same day I have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall keep this day in your generations by a law forever. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses. For whoever eats that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, among the aliens and among the natives of the land. You shall eat nothing leavened. In all your dwelling-places you shall eat unleavened bread. Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, draw out and take a lamb for yourselves according to your families, and kill the passover.

And you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip in the blood in the bowl, and strike the lintel and the doorposts with the blood in the bowl. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians. And when He sees the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. And you shall observe this thing for a law to you and to your sons forever. And it shall be, when you have come to the land which the Lord will give you, according as He has promised, that you shall keep this service. And it will be, when your sons shall say to you, What is this service to you? Then you shall say, it is the sacrifice of The Lord’s passover, who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt, when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our houses. And the people bowed and worshiped. And the sons of Israel went away and did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron; so they did. And it happened at midnight the Lord struck all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his throne to the first-born of the captive that was in the prison; also all the first-born of cattle.

Till Exodus 12:29

Could it be that the ‘Tin Kong’ of the Chinese is really the God in Heaven of the old testament? Where the dispersion of people at the Tower of Babel had sent the Chinese to China, away from the rest of the world yet kept the ordinance of God? Could the seventh day be the holy gathering that God talked about? Could it also be that the red cloth hung above the door was actually the blood of the lamb struck upon the doorposts on the fourteenth night, to ward off the Angel of Death at the Passover at midnight which happens to be Chap Goh Mei? Could it be that Christianity is no longer a ‘western’ religion? For if the Chinese had been worshipping a God from the beginning of time, then even the custom of animal sacrifice on an altar with incense, gold & oil, is very much likened to the practice stated in Leviticus minus the idol. What do we make of all that we have practiced then? Just a celebration of new year? Or an ordinance of Passover kept throughout the generations for us to remember that it was the Lord who delivered Israel out of Egypt..? So should the blood of the lamb that preserved those behind the door also preserve us? Could it be that this sacrificial lamb, often used in the atonement of sin, depicted the Messiah who had come to do the same for us?