• It is believed that devotees who pray to Ganesha are able to fulfil their wishes and desires. So, the main essence of Ganesh Chaturthi is that devotees who pray to him are set free of sins and it leads them on the path of knowledge and wisdom.

• There are four main rituals which are performed during the 10-day long festival. They are namely-- Pranapratishhtha, Shhodashopachara, Uttarpuja, and Ganpati Visarjan.

• A ritual called Pranapratishhtha is observed where a priest chants mantra to invoke life in the diety.

• Prayers are then offered to Ganesha's idol in 16 different ways. This ritual is called Shhodashopachara.

• The Uttarpuja ritual is then performed which is about bidding farewell to Ganesha with deep respect

• This is followed by Ganpati Visarjan, a ceremony wherein the statue is now immersed in water. While carrying the statue to the sea and while immersing it, people generally chant in the Marathi language 'Ganapati Bappa Morya, Purchya Varshi Laukariya' which means 'Goodbye Lord, please come back next year'.

• Prayers are held at the temple, by the roadside and even within the house compound with the excitement very much in evident throughout the month in Penang.

• Giant flags are erected around locations where a specific ceremony is held to signify the celebration of worship. Giant incense is also burnt during this time. The materials used for prayers include replicas of clothes and money, food, fruits, daily amenities and so forth while the spirits are invoked as if they are living persons. Every material used for worship will be prodded with a special flag for invoking the spirits.

  
  

  key points (Qing Ming) :

• Qing Ming is a traditional practice of the Penang Chinese when they visit ancestral graves to remember their ancestors or deceased family members. They would make the visit 10 days before or after the actual Qing Ming day.

• Family members will take some time to reminisce about departed relations. Before leaving they would ask permission for leave from the dead.

• In the olden days, tilting rituals were always performed for activities such as ngayau (war), opening new areas for agriculture, moving to new settlement areas in long houses and bejalai. However, in accordance with the age of modernization, the Iban community today needs help from supernatural powers to obtain wealth, protection and happiness in life. Therefore, the tilting ritual is still performed if there are certain needs that are important to perform.

• Based on the implementation of miring rituals in Iban culture and society, it is related to the role of ritual experts, especially lemambang. This happens because lemambang is the subject of an oblique ritual in the Iban community. The execution of the tilting ritual will be managed by a group of ritual experts such as lemambang. Oblique rituals cannot be performed by anyone because they involve supernatural powers. In addition, the success of an implementation and management in the tilting ritual performed depends on the role of the lemambag. Furthermore, tilting rituals cannot be performed by any individual because they involve supernatural forces. In performing the tilting ritual, the lemambang must not make any kind of mistake before, during or after the ritual. Furthermore, slanting rituals performed by ritual experts such as lemambang require high discipline and discipline and are done prudently.

• When the Bobohizan cuts the first ear of ripe padi grains to mark the beginning of the harvesting time, a long, beckoning prayer is recited to invite Bambaazon to return home to the household rice barns to rest until the time comes for selecting the grains to be sown anew.

• However, even when the harvesting is over and all the padi grains have been winnowed and stored in the barns, it is believed that many parts of Bambaazon's mystical body are still scattered. The Bobohizans are therefore summoned to perform the Magavau Ceremony, and the rites may be performed at individual households, or on a village-communal level. The village level Magavau is organised and planned by the village elders comprising the village headman, the village Chief Bobohizan (or Bohungkitas) and the informal Council of Elders. In normal cases, the date chosen must not be too far from the winnowing and storage period. In the days of old, the Magavau was performed to coincide with the first appearance of the full moon after the padi was safely stored in the barns. This was necessarily so in order to allow for the Chief Bobohizan and her entourage to actually travel through the harvested rice fields to search, salvage and gather all the strayed parts of Bambaazon and join them with the main mystical body.
  

• Today, the Magavau ‘dance’ as it is performed in the Ka'amatan Festival depicts that part of the Magavau, where the Chief Bobohizans (both men and women) and their followers actually leave their communal longhouse and begin their arduous journey to the open padi fields during the night of the first full moon after the harvest.
  

• The male Bobohizans normally take to the front, waving a warriors sword as if a fight was needed in the process of recovering the lost parts of the Bambaazon. The female Bobohizans mainly perform the praying part and chant to beckon the strayed Bambaazon to come home with them.
  

• Throughout the Magavau ceremony, the Bobohizans and their followers have to stick closely together with their hands on the shoulders of their foreman. This is to maintain an orderly manner of procession and to reduce the risk of stumbling in the night and thus to anger many other unseen spirits in the soil, water, wind and vegetation.
  

• Should a Magavau participant miss a step or should he have to adjourn for reasons of answering nature's call, he or she has to get the immediate follower behind to occupy his or her position so as to prevent the line from breaking up. He or she would then join the last participant in the manner described earlier.
  

• And so, the Magavau goes on. By all means, welcome and join the line!

• On the first night the faith healer is alone in his house after being told that someone has fallen ill. The faith healer bargains with the spirit including obtaining the spirit requests for the Bebayuh ritual.

• The second day involves the sick and the faith healer at the faith healer house or at the sick person premises depending on the spirit request. On the night itself the faith healer informs the sick person family about the spirit requests. The preparation begins in the evening of the following day. The Seladai Dance is then performed.

• THE THIRD DAY

  The substances for the Bebayuh ritual are young leaves such as the betel nut leaves, jasmine flower, incense, a drum, candle, and glass fragments on a white cloth.
  
  Incense is burnt to start the ritual with mantras recited by the faith healer in the language of the faith healer spirit and that of the Ipok, at the same time hitting the drum used to detect the sick person illness. The candle is lighted inside the drum and then placed on the faith healer face. Other musicians play the rest of the musical instruments such as drum, kulintangan and gongs.
  
  After detecting the illness the faith healer swallows the candle. The betel nut leaves are then swayed on the sick person body. The Ipok spirit enters the sick person body to cure him. Then the sick person steps on the glass fragments. The Seladai dance is then performed by seven unmarried couples with the faith healer circling the dancers with the isem pesai (a kind of young leaves).

• THE FOURTH UNTIL THE SIXTH DAY
  
  The activities for these evenings are the same as that of the second evening. The sick person has to undergo abcentism like he is forbidden to consume stingray and shark, as well as beans and eggs.

• THE SEVENTH DAY
  
  This final evening is the end of the treatment. The sick person has to prepare the payment to the faith healer that includes gold, a small spear (made of bone as the spirit food), and a live chicken.

2. What is Ganesh Chaturthi ?

3. Ganesh Chaturthi : Importance and Rituals

4. Video on Ganesh Chaturthi celebration in Malaysia

5. What did they used with ?

2. What is Ancestral worship ?

3. Ancestral worship in Zhong Yuan and Qing Ming festival

4. Video on ancestral worship on Qing Ming

5. What did they used with ?

2. What is Miring ?

3. Miring rituasl in Iban community in Sarawak

4. Video on Miring rituals in Iban community

5. What did the used with (tools) ?

Meanwhile, materials such as tuak, chicken, pork, betel leaves, eggs, betel nuts, tobacco, pengan iri (penyaram), floating ruku leaves (cigarettes), glutinous rice, ketupat and rendai (rice flour) are used. This material is known as 'piring', i.e. food is presented to supernatural powers as a sign of gratitude, seeking forgiveness for offenses and communicating with them.

2. What is Magavau ?

3. Magavau rituals in Kaamatan festival

4. Video on Magavau ritual for Kaamatan festival

5. What did the used with (tools) ?

2. What is Bebayuh ?

3. The Bebayuh custom of Melanau Ethnic

4. Video on Bebayuh ritual

5. What did they used with (tools) ?