Seniawan "Tacho" Festival

The Sarawak Gazette, November 1, 1911. (P213-214)
新堯灣「打醮」慶典
砂拉越憲報，11月1日，1911年（頁213-214）

The 14th instant saw the culmination of the great Tacho festival at Seniawan which was held to propitiate the deities, to bring good luck and to drive away all kinds of sickness and disease.

十四日在新堯灣一瞥盛大之打醮儀典（Tacho festival）的最高潮，這一儀典係與神靈媾和，俾能納福祛疾。[1]

The last festival of this kind was held at Seniawan 12 years ago and was immediately followed by a distinct rise in the price of pepper, the growing of which is the staple industry of the Kheh Chinese, who form nine-tenths of the population of Upper Sarawak.

新堯灣前次打醮是12年前，那次醮典之後，隨之而來的就是胡椒價格的明顯上漲。而對於佔上砂拉越人口九成的客華人而言，胡椒產業是十分重要的。

The Ching Gey festival which was held in Kuching some 4 years ago was also succeeded by a great boom in trade following on a long depression. So it would apper that this form ofintercession is distinctly efficacious.

四年前古晉的「妝藝遊神」慶典之後，[2]也相同地在長期的衰退之後，開啟了貿易榮景，因此顯然這種形式的祈福儀式是十分有效的。

During the past two years the country has been suffering from cholera and a pepper disease. whilst the price of the latter commodity has aIso been very Low, and it was these circumstances which induced the Chinese to hold the festival this year. By rights this Tacho should be held once every 5 or 10 years, but apparently the Sarawak Chinese do not stick too closely to the rules of their religion and hold it whenever they think fit.

兩年來，鄉間頗為霍亂與楜椒病害所苦，同時，後者的價格持續低迷，因此，在這樣的情況下，迫使華人今年舉行儀典。儘管醮典應該是每五年或十年辦理一次，但是砂拉越華人顯然不是那麼嚴守他們的宗教規律，只要覺得時機合宜，便舉辦儀典。

The Tacho is apparently a religious ceremony of intercession to the Trinity of Deities－namely, Nyee Kong Shong Kee, the Almighty God; Mi Tian, the God of Light; and Nyet Kong, the God of Darkness. There deities are gods in every sense of the word, being immortal, all powerful and incarnate. They were represented by three pictures which were placed on the top of a three storied altar in a specially constructed temple, and attended by Buddhist priests brought over from Singapore for the purpose. The temple was a fine edifice built after the usual plan of a joss-house and was most beautifully decorated with figures and flowers made out of papier maché.

打醮這一宗教儀式係向三聖祈福，所謂三聖分別為全能的藥師佛、掌管光明與黑暗的日光普照菩薩與月光普照菩薩，三聖是不朽的、充滿神力與靈驗的。[3]三聖的神圖由僧侶自新加坡攜來，供奉在廟宇內的三層祭壇上。這間廟宇有著精緻的外觀，原本只是尋常供奉香火的房子，為了此次醮典而刻意整修；同時，更裝飾著最美麗的各式紙糊造型圖像與花朵。

Prayers were said before these deities three times a day. These services, called Sieu Khim, which may only be said by Buddhist priests, consisted of the incantation of prayers of intercession, which were interrupted by the ringing of a bell and frequent bowings and prostrations before the Altar, at the end of which holy water (Mat Choh Shui) was sprinkled over the congregation and also towards the altar; this was for purposes of purification. This holy water is obtained from a well selected faraway up in the hills, so as to avoid as much as possible all chance of pollution, and is then blessed by the priests. When once a well has been chosen for this purpose it may not be used for the ordinary requirements of daily life.

一天三回在神前誦讀祈福文，這一「誦經」儀式僅能由僧侶執行，僧侶在祭壇前每誦讀祈福經懺至一段落時，便搖動手鈴，同時連續鞠躬與下跪行禮。最後則以聖水（秣草水）向信徒與祭壇灑淨。聖水來自特別選自遠方山上，避免任何污染，才能為僧侶所用。一旦山泉水被選定後，就不能再當做日常用水。

A picture of Buddha, called by the Chinese Fut, was placed on the lowest step of the altar and seriously reminded one of that of a Christian Saint, as it did not present the usual characteristics and perspective of a Chinese drawing, but seemed to conform more to our ideas of such. The figure was clad in a blue robe with a halo round its head and was enclosed in an ordinary gilt frame.

一張佛陀的像放置在祭壇的最低階，一般的鍍金外框裡的佛陀像，身著藍色長袍，頭上有圓形光暈，由於它並非以常見的中國風格或理念繪製，讓人聯想到像是基督教的聖徒。

The ceremony of Tacho is purely a Buddhist one and may only be performed by Buddhist priests ; both the Gee Kao or Confucianists and the Sia Kao acknowledging the Fut Kow or Buddhist creed to be the highest form of religion.

打醮儀典是一個純粹的佛教儀典，也只能由佛教僧侶舉行，儒教（或者孔教）及邪教二者皆了解佛教被信奉為最崇高的宗教。

During the last week of the festival no meat is allowed to be eaten and the people are continually offering up prayers and burning incense before the altar. If the ceremony is carried out strictly no women or unbelievers are allowed on the platform in front of the altar and everyone is expected to wear clean clothes. During this week men must be most particular in their conversation and practice self denial, but apparently with the exception of the fast the people were not very strict about these rules.

醮典的一週中，人們必須齋戒，並持續在祭壇前禱念與焚香。如果如果嚴格執行禁忌，任何女人或不信神者都不得接近祭壇，而且每個人都應穿著素淨的衣裳。這一週內，男人必須特別謹言慎行，努力自持。不過，對於齋戒這件事，人們顯然沒有那麼恪守規定。

Opposite this temple another one not quite so elaborate had been erected to house the topekung, which had been brought there with much ceremony from the joss-houses in Kuching and the surrounding districts. Alongside the principal temple were other temporary buildings which contained what appeared to be semi-deities. These were figures some 18 feet high made of stretched on a bamboo framework and were constructed and clothed with all the fantastic methods of which the Chinese are such perfect masters. The principal of them appeared to be Sun Shin, god of the forests and hill, and Fut Muh, the virgin goddess for women. The former is the guardian and protector of people lost in the jungle and of the spirits of the dead. At midnight he was the presiding deity at the ceremony called Shi Koo, when offerings of food, clothing and prayers were made to the spirits of those departed. This ceremony was productive of a difference of opinion between the priests, who were Hokiens, and the congregation, who were Kheh. The priests maintained that it was only necessary to say prayers once before Sun shin and then, when all the prayer papers had been burned, the offerings to the departed spirits might be removed. After having said the prayers once, they returned to their domicile, from whence, after a heated debate amongst the assembled multitude, two of the elders were despatched to bring them back again. On their return they said prayers to two other semi-deities and then to Sun Shin. During this time all the clothes dedicated to the departed, consisting of coats, trousers and boots made out of paper, were burned and at the termination of the prayers a rocket went off and a mad rush took place to seize the offerings to the departed. Basins of rice, cakes and nuts were taken off by the Chinese, some of whom had brought bags with them to contain their trophies ; it was noticeable that the Dayaks and Malays contented themselves with the kajangs or leaf mats. This brought the fast and ceremony of Tacho to its close. The non-appearance of the Wayang was the cause of much discontent amongst the subscribers, and if the ceremony does not produce the desired effect people will not be surprised. We understand that more than $20,000 were subscribed, of which the greater part was obtained in Upper Sarawak.

(Contributed.)

廟宇的對面也建了一座沒那麼考究的廟，用來供奉從古晉或附近請來的大伯公。主廟旁邊尚有一些臨時建築，用以供奉陪祀神明。這些建築約莫18呎高，以竹子為骨架，再用華人擅長的絕妙方法予以搭建及塗裝。這其中最主要的是「山神」，亦即掌管山林的神；以及「佛母」，婦女的貞節之神。山神是人們迷失在叢林與孤魂野鬼時的監察人與守護者。午夜時，祂成了「施孤」儀式的主持人，施孤時，食物、衣服與祝導文都是為了這些孤魂而準備。儀典在福建僧侶與客信徒不同的儀式見解中進行著，僧侶依慣例只在山神前誦讀祝文一次並加以焚化，當所有祝文都已燒化時，對神所供奉的祭品必須撤饌。果然，當祝文誦讀一次後，僧侶便回到休息處；一場激烈的爭辯後，兩位長者才又拿回供品。回來之後，他們向兩位陪祀神誦念祝文，然後再向山神禱唸。此時，所有要致送給孤魂的紙製衣服，包含上衣、褲子、及鞋子等，一起焚化。當紙灰殆盡，並燃放爆竹時，隨即引發一場狂放的搶孤戲碼，普施孤魂的供品，一掃而空。一盆盆白米、榚粄與核果被華人搶個精光。有些人帶著袋子盛裝他們的紀念品，而用葉製雨篷遮蓋身體的達亞克人與馬來人則格外引人注目。齋戒與打醮儀典至此結束。由於戲曲並未上演，引起許多購票者的不滿，因此，如果這次儀典未能獲致預期成效，人們不會感到意外。據我們所了解，訂購金額超過2萬元，而且絕大部份來自砂拉越河上游。

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