I am sure those of you from Ipoh could instantly recognize this street. This is Hume Street. Some locals refer it as “Coffin Street.” There are a few funeral parlors and casket shops along this street on the left side of this picture.
My childhood home was nearby, less than a minute of walking. From my window I got to see how Hungry Ghost Festival was celebrated in these funeral parlors with much pomp and gaiety each year. For a few nights in a row, prayers were chanted to lessen the sufferings of departed souls. Hell bank notes, paper clothes and accessories were burnt for them. Vegetarian foods were offered too.
A large paper effigy of the scary and fierce-looking Yama or the Lord of Hell and a ship to carry these departed souls were placed in the middle of the street, right in front of these funeral parlors. The climax of the month-long festival was the burning of the paper items and the sending off of the departed souls back to their world. It was like a big bonfire in the middle of Hume Street, illuminating the areas around it.
Have you watched a ceremony called “Thiu For” or jumping over the fire before? It was an interesting rite carried out by Taoist priests called “Nam Moh Lou.” They consumed a mouthful of whisky and spit this into a pile of burning fire before leaping over it. In their hands, were lists of names of deceased people to be liberated from their sufferings. This act symbolized the priests descending into the deepest level of hell (Level 18) to save the dead, just like what Mu Lian had done for his wicked mother in the classical Buddhist story “Mu Lian saved his mother.”
I think this ceremony is getting very rare these days. I wonder if they are still conducting them at Hume Street. Anyone knows or has seen them too?
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188 Hugh Low Street, Ipoh 
when i was a kid, i used to be so scared of Hume street because of the funeral parlours and also the coffin shops 🙂 my mom would try to avoid passing this street too 🙂 i’ve never watched the ‘tiu for’ ceremony but it sounds very interesting.
Hi Barb,
These funeral parlors and coffin shops are very modern looking now. 🙂
However, they are very scary and sombre looking back in the 60s and 70s! The coffins in those days are very traditional – large and intimidating to a child’s eyes. These shops were dimly lit too.
Can’t blame your mom. Many people too, would try to avoid this street which is so “yin” – the air here is full of negative energies. With dying people rotting away in convalescent homes above these shops, crying and wailing from mourners heard almost everyday and dogs howling eerily at night, who would want to step her feet here?
What you see in the first picture here is exactly what I could see from my former childhood home.
Yes, “thiu for” is an interesting ceremony but I think not many Taoist priests of this generation know how to do it anymore. I always suspect they are wearing a fire-proof robe to avoid getting burn while leaping through burning fire countless times in a single night! If not, they would end up as roasted pigs! 🙂
I always try to avoid this street. One of the photos shows an old folks’ home which is next to a coffin shop – probably for convenience sake.
Hi CH,
It is not an old folks home in a true sense but more of a dumping ground – a place between earth and hell, a gloomy and depressing place where people conveniently dumped their dying relatives to wait for the Grim Reaper.
It is the saddest place for one to be at – old, sick and alone. Some people can be that heartless to their own kins when it comes to convenience 😦
I have seen the “Thiu for” when I was a kid. My old house is located nearby to a temple, hence whenever there are such occasion, grandma will bring me and my brothers over to have a look. I was afraid of the Hume street too when I was young. My dad will try to avoid this road, and if we happen to pass by, mum will ask us to close our eyes. I’m not sure whether such ceremony are still conducted at Hume street, but we can still see them in Penang. Penang still preserves this cultural event every well.
Hi Andrew,
I am sure like me, you can remember this “thiu for” quite well! The sight of a priest in flowing robe leaping high in the air over a billowing fire caused by the spitted whisky is something to behold. And the fact that he has to repeat it again and again throughout the night is laudable.
Most people are scared of Hume Street but for my family and I, we had became accustomed to all the noises and sights of this heritage street.
Do you believe that I actually misses those days of looking out from my window and watch all the going-on along this scary street?
Ipoh Hume Street Chinese Funeral Homes were then ( I don’t much of what they are now ) an expression de riguer of how much passion ,affection and or financial affectation were given the dead,yet in Life and Times of their earthly existence ,how much do their relatives and friends really were passionate and affectionate emotively or financially, I suppose not all Chinese families are like that of Tan Lark Sye, Aw Boon Haw, Lee Kong Chiang or Lim Guan Tong of Genthings Highlands Casino King or Robert Kwouk ,The Towkays/ Tycoons of Malaysia of the Chinese Diaspora ,yet the ostentatious display of wealth in death was rather incongruous to Commonsense !
Gerald Heng-Tuah Sr.
Metrowest Boston,Ma.USA.