Labrador Beach shrine Seaside Shrines
Friday 24 October 2008

Going through my backlog of old photos, I just realised that the seaside shrines at Kranji and Labrador are probably how Loyang Tua Pek Kong started out in the 80s.

Labrador Beach's shrine is hidden amidst flotsam and jetsam (photo on right with closeup below).

However, like the Kranji shrine, it has a mix of Indian and Chinese deities. I would say though, that the number of Indian ones predominate somewhat.

Though I've not been to many of these shrines, I dare make some general observations: there will always be at least one naga around, usually more; and there will always be the ubiquitous Tua Peh Kong (大伯公).

View of Labrador Beach shrine deities

The deities at Kranji on the other hand line the side of a slipway into the sea:
Line of deities at Kranji

One wonders how these deities got here. For instance, how did this tall Indian one on the left end up crippled in Kranji?

From the amount of regular offerings made, I presume that the most frequent worshippers at these shrines are Indian. There will always be flowers and other offerings characteristic of Indian worship. Of course, most Chinese leave only joss sticks and joss stick stubs are easy to overlook.

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