Pai Tee Kong is a celebration of the Jade Emperor’s birthday. Significantly, this falls on the ninth day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, a date so momentous for the Hokkien Chinese that they claim it as the “proper” start to their New Year. Offerings of food and incense are laid out on a makeshift altar made up of two tiers of red benches - the lower for roasted meats, while the upper level, symbolising the elevated status of heaven, consists of vegetarian dishes to be consumed by the deity also known as the God of Heaven (Pai Tee Kong is Hokkien for “Worshipping the God of Heaven”). Additionally, two stalks of sugar cane are tied to each end of the altar.

Hokkien Chinese believe this was the day that the Jade Emperor saved their descendants from death in the Fujian province of China. Located along the coast of the South China Sea, their villages were subject to regular attacks by pirates back in the 16th Century. In one particularly vicious raid, the villagers were forced to flee into the sugarcane forests, where they waited and prayed for God’s help to save them. When it was finally safe to leave, the villagers realised it coincided with the birthday of the Jade Emperor. And so the legend goes.