The mass at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Pulau Tikus was held to acknowledge how the Hokkiens were spared from persecution in China centuries ago thanks to divine intervention.

Chaplain for the Penang Island Chinese apostolate, Father Aloysius Tan said this was the first time such an event was held.

“As Catholics in the Hokkien community, we commemorated this event with the celebration of the Holy Mass.

“This is to give thanks to God our Father for all the blessings bestowed on us and to pray for unity and solidarity in our communities as well as in our country,” he said when contacted by FMT.

To commemorate the event, sugarcane shoots adorned the entrance of the church as well as the main aisle inside leading up to the altar.

The tall shoots signify the sugarcane farms that the Hokkiens in ancient China sought refuge in when they were about to be attacked by bandits.

The sugarcane farm was believed to have mysteriously appeared out of nowhere on the eighth night of the Chinese New Year.

The following day, the Hokkiens in hiding were able to walk back home safe and sound. So thankful was the community for this miracle, that the event has been celebrated every year since.

After the weekend’s Mandarin mass, a choir sang Chinese New Year songs in Hokkien and later attended a grand feast with 600 other churchgoers.

Catholic priests blessed the feast that was made up of eight roasted suckling pigs, donated by the congregations of eight Mandarin-speaking Catholic churches in Penang.

The Hokkiens make up the majority of the Chinese in Penang so it comes as no surprise that the Hokkien New Year, commonly known as the Jade Emperor celebration, is a big event here.

Churchgoer Michael Foo, told FMT that the church’s mass was not to be confused with how other Hokkiens typically celebrated the New Year.

He said the church’s service and dinner was more of a way of offering thanks to God for saving the lives of the Hokkiens centuries ago.

He said the Hokkiens believe that “a God that they did not know” saved them from being killed by giving them refuge in a sugarcane farm that appeared from out of nowhere.

“For us, the God we do not know is Jesus Christ and at that time, our forefathers did not know who he was. So we give thanks to him for saving the Hokkiens.

“Tonight’s event is more a fellowship, of singing hymns and of celebrating Chinese New Year while being close to God,” he said.