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The queue one hour before midnight.
With some queuing for almost 3 hours, fatigue eventually kicked in.
Besides the devotees rushing to place their joss stick, it is also a busy night for the workers at the temple, who are rushing to clear the urn of joss sticks so that fresh ones could be added.
The queue one hour before midnight.
The First Joss Stick
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While many will throng Marina Bay to experience the spectacular fireworks that mark the start of the Lunar New Year, a sizeable number will patiently wait outside the Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho with flowers and joss sticks for the clock to strike 12. An hour before, Waterloo Street was already flooded with devotees and I thought I was early. Being a traditional Taoist custom, they would bear the crunch and long waiting duration in exchange for a higher chance of being the first in line to plant their joss stick as it is believed that whoever manages to do so will have their wishes granted. Reluctantly, I squeezed in and waited in line with them, shrouded in a veil of smoke from the joss sticks. With barriers being set up to contain the crowd, we were being packed like sardines, barely having enough space to rotate your body without knocking into someone and risk knocking over their flower stalk. It was only after 30 mins past midnight that we were able to enter the temple, and due to the overwhelming crowd, we were only allowed to stay in there for about 20 seconds before we were ushered out of the temple. This process would carry on till morning the next day, despite knowing that they were not the first.