It's time for the yearly lunar 7th month hungry ghost festival performances to the "good brothers" that are out from the underworld for a month of enjoyment again!
The schedule for this year's teochew opera "wayang" performed at the free standing stage in the middle of Ubin town has been announced. Performances will be on 31 August and 1 September 2012.
There will be complimentary boat services on these two nights - Changi to Ubin from 6.30pm to 10pm and Ubin to Changi from 8.00 - 11.00pm (8.30pm on 1 Sep).
Many of you may recognise her as "Ah Lian", the lady boss from the seafood restaurant by the sea on Ubin. She is the daughter-in-law of Hai Liang who owned the groccery shop that my mom frequented when she was a young girl on Ubin in the 1950s. Hai Liang passed away in 2009 but the family still lives on the island.
Island's remaining resident count: 38
Lianhe Wanbao the Chinese tabloid is now doing a series of interview features with Ubin residents. Look out for it! Translation of this article will follow. Thanks to Alan Tan for the alert!
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Source: "陪读妈妈 20年风雨无阻 带孩子过海上学” Lianhe Wanbao, 25 Jul 2012
In 2006, the Malayan Porcupine (Hystrix brachyura) was caught on film by a camera trap on Pulau Tekong, an island just east of Pulau Ubin. Prior to that, Malayan Porcupines were never before reported on Pulau Tekong, and hardly seen since the 1970's. Habitatnews cited a study by Yang, Yong & Lim in 1990 that suggested while the Malayan Porcupine (Hystrix brachyura) was once common in forested areas between 19th century to the 1960's, and was "sometimes found in secondary forests" by 1973, by 1990, it "must be very rare if it still exists in Singapore".
Fast forward to 2012, the Malayan Porcupine was yet again spotted, but this time on Pulau Ubin! Robert Teo from the National Parks Board (NParks) shares a video on youtube of a Malayan Porcupine that had wandered into a ubin resident's compound in late Jan 2012. It was cornered by the resident's dogs, subsequently caught and caged. The NParks Forest Patrol discovered the little guy and helped to release him back into the forest.
It's great to know that the wild Malayan Porcupine population seems to have thrived despite the rapid disappearance of their natural forest habitats in Singapore.
Happy Earth Day everyone!
Update @ 23 April 2012
Robert shared more on this first official sighting of the Malayan Porcupine on Ubin:
"During our regular Forest
Patrol on 30 Mar 2012, my staff and volunteers found a Malayan Porcupine
(Hystrix brachyura) caged in a resident’s home. It measured about
60-70 cm from nose to base of tail and appeared to be a female. The
porcupine entered the resident’s compound in late Jan 2012 and was
cornered by her dogs. It was subsequently netted and a cage was
constructed to house it. The resident fed it with apples, carrots & kangkong. The resident was reluctant to let it
go as she thought it would not be able to survive on its own. She even
asked that we send it to the zoo. We explained that the porcupine is a
wild animal and would be able to fend for itself, and that the right
thing to do was to return it to the wild. She requested to keep it over
the weekend to show her relatives. On the morning of 2 Apr, we
transported the cage to the forest nearby and released the porcupine."
Did you catch the Teochew Opera performance (and getai show!) at Pulau Ubin last week (16-21 May 2011)? If you missed it, you can now relive the moment vicariously through the vivid photos of Marcus Ng, the Annotated Budak. You can also read Marcus' account on his blog.
The performance marked the birthday celebration of Taoist diety, Tua Pek Gong (literally, "grand old man") - the diety worshipped at the temple in Ubin town. The crowd sure looked plentiful and almost reminiscent of yonder years when the island population passes a thousand.
Teochew opera in itself is also a rapidly disappearing art form in cosmopolitan Singapore. Just as most Singaporeans takes on the interweb in social media platforms like Facebook, traditional art forms must catch up with times and follow suit! Lo and behold, the teochew opera troupe that performed on Ubin has a Facebook page too! If you missed the performance or loved it so much and want to catch more of it, show your support on Facebook! They also announce their performance dates around Singapore (not just Ubin!) and you can catch them "live" at a venue near you!
In case you're eager to watch a piece of the performance right now, here's a video of the troupe's performance on youtube!
Mind you, Ubin celebrations are not all traditional wayang only, Tua Pek Kong probably does enjoy such modern entertainments as well!
Tua Pek Kong is a Chinese Taoist deity popularly worshipped by the Chinese community on our island city. In fact, the temple located in the centre of the Pulau Ubin town is precisely dedicated to the Tua Pek Kong.
Annually, devotees would celebrate the birthday of each deity and Tua Pek Kong is no exception. The Tua Pek Kong temple would organise week long celebrations including traditional teochew opera (affectionately known in Malay as wayang by the locals, referring to performance) and modern getai (meaning song stage in mandarin) performances with bright lights and flamboyant singers in colourful costumes!
This year, the Pulau Ubin Tua Pek Kong Temple will be celebrating Tua Pek Kong Birthday from 16 May to 21 May 2011. There will be nightly wayang show (16-20 May) and finale geitai show (21 May).
Alan Tan, the NParks officer on Ubin, writes that there are usually free boat rides to Ubin from Changi Point Ferry Terminal on these dates from 6.30pm to 10pm. More details will be posted once he receives them.
Do check out the festivities if you have the opportunity as it's a rare island celebration that is hard to come by today.
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