Lin Shan Temple 麟山亭 - Lin Shan Temple 麟山亭

虎爺誕辰。 今天很多信徒來祭拜，除新加坡人外，也有來自馬來西亞，一年來一次，說很靈驗。 祭拜大殿主神之後再祭拜虎爺。 祭拜時間最好在虎爺開口的吉時後祭拜，每年的吉時都不同。 祭品可自己準備，宮殿也有備便紙錢祭品，有雞蛋、豬肉、餅乾，還有一小包幾粒綠豆。綠豆象徵要小人滾開。 祭拜時要先粘貼貴人符。 之後點蠟燭、上香。 再將祭品奉上，奉上時先拿雞蛋、豬肉在虎爺嘴巴鼻子抹抹，象徵餵食。再放在虎爺嘴裡、頭上或胸前、身旁都可。 綠豆再撒在虎爺身上或週邊。 最後再燒紙錢。 如你添油錢時，工作人員會為你添加香油，並唸上一句~某某添油，祝闔府平安大發財。 ~新加坡紅山麟山亭北極宮。

麟山亭 Ling Shan Temple A Taoist temple with long history. Last update Dec 2018

This is a small temple complex standing very close to Redhill MRT. One hand it is dwarfed by towering HDB blocks and on the other side, a row of showsrooms for automobile dealers starts. I have passed by this temple on countless occassions but rarely paid a visit. On a weekend walkabout, I visited camera in tow and was able to speak to the caretaker; unfortunately he did not speak much English. Nevertheless, he was very amiable and indicated that I was welcome to look around and take photos. I waited till the solitary devotee was on his way and enjoyed having this quiet sanctuary to myself. The painted front doors were adorned by fierce looking characters. The temple structure is small, simple, and I perceived, in reasonably good shape. What I was able to gather is that this area used to be a cemetery hill (known as Bukit Leng Kee) at some point in time. The temple was built in 1879 and then rebuilt in 1915. Intimately associated with the temple construction were Tan Boo Liat (wealthy Singapore philanthropist, great-grandson of Tan Tock Seng and a strong supporter of Dr. Sun Yat Sen), Low Kim Pong (successful trader, philanthropist and fundraiser for Singapore's oldest Buddhist monastery, Siong Lim Temple aka Shuang Lin Monastery) and Tan Kah Kee (successful businessman, funraiser for Chinese efforts and a survivor of the Sook Ching Massacre). The cemetery closed in 1923 and the graves were exhumed in 1963.

Today is the actual day for praying tiger god(虎爷) for safety and protection against the harmful substances that may caused. A small tray of $4 consists of 1 egg, 1 piece of raw meat and a small pack of biscuits for offerings and some incense & praying sticks n 2 candles.

Chanced upon this modest yet charming Taoist temple during my walk yesterday. I wandered into the compound just to take a couple of pictures, but decided not to go inside and disturb the people. The vibrant colours definitely enhanced the entire rather shabby (I mean, let's face it, dull HDB blocks and tired gray industrial blocks) neighborhood. This was akin to stumbling onto an oasis. Very nice!