Chinese New Year at Thian Hock Keng temple

One of the most special Chinese New Year eve expereince in Singapore Chinatown is always at the Thian Hock Keng temple.

To begin with, the temple is “ancient” by Singapore standards and is still a functioning temple. That means their New Year eve celebration is not an event organised for the public but a continuation of traditional Chinese New Year eve celebrations.

The organizing committee always introduce new elements into the celebration so visitors can expect something new and something interesting. They also use the opportunity to promote traditional crafts.

The result is something for everybody and explains the increasing crowd every year.

Something for everyone

The Chinese New year eve celebration always starts with prayers and culminate with chanting just before midnight.

As the prayer and rituals are going on, crowds starting appearing to watch the Hokkien puppet show or to explore one of the many booths.

There is also a free tour to give a visitor a deeper understanding of the temple. This year, the tour will run for 15 days, the entire duration of the Chinese New Year.

The new highlight this year are the stilt walkers who were attracting everyone’s attention and lots of photo taking.

Year of the monkey arrives

The front courtyard is always the performance area where the public crowd to watch the lion and dragon dance. This year, the God of Wealth is assisted by the stilt walkers to give out candies that were always in great demand by young and old.

This event ends with displays of Mandarin Orange display for the lucky person to decipher the winning lottery numbers.

After this, the crowd disperse from Thian Hock Keng to surrounding temples and Singapore Chinatown for some last minute Chinese New Year goods shopping.

So if you miss the New Year eve’s celebration, there are still the tours for the next 2 weeks and of course remember to drop by to experience it for yourself next year.

Event date: 7 Feb 2016
30th day of the 12th Lunar Month, Year of the Goat
乙未年十二月三十日

Related articles:

Singapore main page


Chinese New Year