Folklore has it that it’s bad luck to display an empty coffin.
Now most of us would never be faced by this problem but the National Museum of Singapore was when it created an exhibition to showcase amongst other things, Chinese funeral rites.
On display was a real coffin on a real hearse used here in the “old days”. Not wanted to tempt fate, the museum filled the coffin with pieces of wood just to be on the safe side.
If you look at the picture above closely, you may notice several paper umbrellas at the head of the hearse. According to legend (and this was news to me – thanks Angeline …) if you want to bring a spirit outdoors (for whatever reason), it needs to be protected from the rain! So you need to provide the spirit with an umbrella for it to seek shelter while on the go.
2 Responses
Is this a new exhibit? I didn’t notice it during my previous visits.
Peranakan Museum has a real coffin exhibit too. They filled it up for the same reason. Gave me the creeps when I was there, especially with the fact that it’s meant to be the wake of a real person (can’t remember his name) that died. They displayed his black and white photo in front of the coffin.
Posted on August 2nd, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Hiya Veron,
Nope this exhibit has been around for quite a while as far as I know …
Ghostwriter
Posted on August 4th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Add A Comment