Fire-walking at Ampang, Selangor
David Freeman’s short note describes his observation of an annual Chinese fire-walking ceremony held at a small temple near Ampang, Selangor, on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month (18 October 1923).
Summary
Freeman, who had lived in Kuala Lumpur for eighteen years without previously witnessing the event, provides a detailed account of the preparations and proceedings. The ceremony involved Hokkien coolies from Fukien Province who had undergone weeks of seclusion and vegetarian diet. The ritual included the construction of a charcoal pyre approximately twelve feet long, the invocation of the god Kow Wong Yeh (Respected Ninth King) carried in an apparently empty sedan chair, the self-mutilation of a fanatic with an axe and dagger, and the tracing of a double Greek cross in the earth by a hierophant. Approximately one hundred barefoot candidates, dressed in white, then ran across the glowing charcoal from north-west to south-east, most taking four steps, with none apparently burnt or injured (pp. 74–76).