Dong Zhi at Tan Kongsi
December 21st, 2004 - Tuesday
The Eng Chuan Tong Tan Kongsi (Tan Clan Association) celebrated the Dong Zhi (Winter Solstice Festival) with a dinner cum karaoke just now. Like last year, my neighbours with the Tan surname, Soon Leong and wife, Mr. Tan and I, attended the function. More than three hundred clansmen and their family were there. It was an eight-course dinner that began promptly at 8pm. Clan gatherings like this is a good way to renew kinships and forge new ones. Although I attended the same function last year, it was still an awesome experience to be among so many clansmen at the same place and time.
Eng Chuan Tong Tan Kongsi at Halaman Seh Tan, Penang.
The ornate Tan Kongsi granite facade.
The ancestral altar.
Tan and Tan and Tan and Tan …
Tags: dong zhi, Eng Chuan Tong Tan Kongsi
December 22nd, 2004 at 08:19
in kl we have the “Ho’s association gathering” at a temple near midvalley megamall. attended a few times (mum’s a “Ho”), but rarely anymore.
December 22nd, 2004 at 11:18
I saw you in the last photo. Wow.. your hair don’t u think is much to long..i am hadicapped too i need to know how u take care of that
December 22nd, 2004 at 12:12
What a lovely place to have the dinner.
December 22nd, 2004 at 14:49
Dave,
These gatherings are a good way to retrace your roots.
Francis,
With lots of patience and shampoo.
Marita,
We have some beautifully crafted clan houses here. You are going to have a field day just snapping photos. Just make sure you have a big enough memory card.
December 22nd, 2004 at 21:06
my mum is a tan also. i didn’t know about the tan clan association. perhaps next year should ask my mum to attend.
December 23rd, 2004 at 11:50
Lucia,
There are actually three Tan Kongsis in Penang. One is at Sg. Nibong just opposite the police station and the other is somewhere in the Inner City. The one at Beach Street is always the one where the festivals are celebrated - twice a year. I am not sure what the other festival is. They usually have ancestral worshipping in the morning followed by lunch and then course dinner in the evening.
December 23rd, 2004 at 17:42
Hmm..never attended one of those, though we have a similar association in KL.
Have a blessed Christmas!
December 24th, 2004 at 01:27
Bkworm,
Thank you. A blessed Christmas to you too.
November 2nd, 2006 at 03:59
I am a TAN from Singapore and I am trying very hard to trace my roots all the way to the village in China if thats possible. It would be nice to go back there to find what the place looks like and the people there who are probably our long lost relatives. My parents have passed away and no records have been left behind about our grandparents or their ancestors or where they came from. My mother’s side is the TOH family from Johore and I also have none of their records except for a picture of my grandfather and great grandfather. Can anyone here or elsewhere help me in my project, especially now that computer usage and the Net is so widespread? Many thanks.