The Hell deity tradition in Singapore is intimately linked to the post-mortal journey of the soul, and to objects and places associated with the afterlife. Graveyards thus play a significant role as they provide a tangible link between the realms of the living and of the dead. During Ghost Month in 2011, 2014, 2017 & 2019 I visited the 3.18 square kilometer Choa Chu Kang Cemetery to observe night-time graveyard rituals in a cemetery plot dedicated to aborted fetuses' and dead babies.
This photo was taken in the darkest corner of the cemetery plot for fetus ghosts as a spirit medium possessed by one Hell deity offered incense to the two most famous Underworld deities at their graveside altar.
Chinese Ghost Month precedes the autumn equinox, a time associated with the harvest and subsequent waning of light and physical decay. Annually, on the first day of the lunar Seventh Month, the gates of the Underworld are opened and the multitudinous hordes of wandering spirits, referred to euphemistically as ‘good brothers’ are, for one month, allowed to return to their origins and to wander the Earth.
On 18 July 2017, under Singapore's Master Plan, a ‘joint statement’ was made by the Singaporean government announcing the planned expansion of Tengah Air Base “to accommodate some of the assets and facilities from Paya Lebar Air Base”, and the need to exhume 45,000 Chinese graves in Choa Chu Kang Cemetery to make space for the expansion. Unlike previous exhumations to make land available for new burials, these cemetery plots would instead disappear.
All of the cemetery plots visited have since been exhumed, and cemetery rituals have become (excuse the pun) a dying tradition. These photos are therefore rare, as these rituals are unlikely to be seen again.
The price of each photo reflects the rarity of the ritual being performed.
