The spirit of Johor Chingay Parade — the threat of COVID 19 武汉肺炎也阻挡不了的柔佛古庙游神精神

The Johor Chingay parade has been an annual tradition for Johorians. Today, in Malaysia, Chingay is not only attended by the Chinese, but the art has successfully attracted the Malays and Indians. It has become a unique multiracial event.

◎ 6SENSE / 黄静仪 Wong Cheng Yee

柔佛古庙游神是一个全柔佛人的年度盛宴。现在,古庙游神不只是专属于华人的活动,其中的艺术与文化也深深地吸引了马来与印度的友族到来。

Breaking news has affected Chingay Johor, the spreading of Novel Coronavirus. The disease caused by the novel coronavirus has a name: Covid-19. Due to 11/2/2020, Covid-19 has been confirmed in more than 42,000 people and caused more than 1,000 deaths in China. There have been fewer than 400 cases in 24 other countries, with one death. Human-to-human transmission has been confirmed outside China, including in Malaysia.

 

2019新型冠状病毒的肆虐对柔佛古庙游神造成了很大的影响。截止2020年2月12日,该疫情在全球25个国家共发生4万5000多宗确诊案例,并造成1000多人死亡。

Unsurprisingly, as the report of Feb 11, 2020, the state’s Johor Baru Chingay Parade will be canceled due to the novel coronavirus Covid-19 outbreak. The organizers of the 2020 Chingay Parade Festival here on Friday have called off the event after receiving advice from the Johor Government. Johor Bahru Tiong Hua Federation (JBTHF) said it had agreed to cancel the parade after considering the views of its affiliates as well as due to public interest.

随着武汉肺炎(2019新型冠状病毒)疫情的恶化,以及新加坡将警戒线提升为橙色警报,再加上柔佛州政府的反对,14日举行的众神圣驾夜游活动取消,不过2月13日和2月15号的活动则不受影响。

The good news here is the iconic parade will be processed as scheduled date, Chingay on Feb 13 and 15 would continue, the five deities representing Johor Bahru’s five Chinese clan associations — the Teochew, Hokkien, Hainan, Hakka, and Cantonese — will be paraded on trucks rather than devotees as before. But the organizers will need to provide the names and addresses of the participants involved in JKNJ as a precautionary measure.

Based on that, the deities will be paraded on lorries to minimize contact for the parade. In addition to that, those attending need to take extra precautions such as ensuring personal hygiene, wearing face masks and going for checks at medical sick bays if necessary. JBTHF said those who wish to go to the temple for the religious ceremony must ensure they are healthy, and if not, they may watch the ceremony live on the official social website.

今年的柔佛古庙游神活动遇上新冠肺炎疫情传播,再次缩小游行的规模,仅有五尊神明在罗厘绕境,其他队伍一概取消。在缩小规模举办的前提下,防疫工作成为这项历史文化活动的焦点,志愿医护团队只能全力协助防疫,同时吁请民众克尽社会责任,保护自己与他人的健康,不要随意乱丢口罩。

 

According to the interview of one of the Chingay committees, he will still attend the Chingay Johor as he treats Chingay parade as his responsibility to make the Chingay parade successful. Chingay parade is for the gods’ pleasure regardless of the number of audiences.

在一次的采访中,其中一名柔佛古庙的工作人员说办好游神就是我的任务,我觉得可以没有观众,但神应该要照常出游,这是一场无需彩排的万人盛会,即使今年也没有变动。

 

On the other side, one of the attendees who attended the pre-event of Chingay parade with his son mentioned that Chingay is a cultural inheritance that must be passed down to the next generation. Therefore, it is meaningful to bring his son to attend the pre-event of the Chingay parade.

其中一名带着儿子参加洗街活动的民众表示,古庙游神是一次的文化传承,透过参加这个活动,能让下一代更懂得文化的意义。

One special attendee had been interviewed, he is an Indian from Malacca, he attended the Chingay parade with a simple reason, to get to know the culture of other races. He expressed his opinion as Chingay should be held annually as this year is

一名印度同胞也接受了采访,原因很简单,就是想了解其他族群的文化,毕竟我们是多元文化社会,但各族群一直都只参与自己的活动。我觉得古庙游神应该要每年举行,因为游神要申遗,而且今年是「大马旅游年」,游神也被纳入重要庆典之一,像风筝节延迟举行就很可惜。

 

Chingay is held on the 21st day of the Lunar New Year and has become a national heritage event in Johor, which has been celebrated for the past 150 years. This is an annual traditional event Johor. We should pass this traditional down to the next generation.

 

今年柔佛古庙游神已迈入150年,文化的传承和文化的推广是永不停息、源源不绝的。

 

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