This month-long festival sees thousands of Taoists flocking to Kusu Island, off Singapore's southern coast, to make offerings to Tua Pek Kong, the God of Prosperity. Joss sticks, flowers, fruit and red-shelled eggs are offered both at the Chinese temple and at a Malay shrine. According to legend, one Malay and one Chinese fishermen were shipwrecked on the island. Both lived peacefully together until death. It is traditionally observed on the 106th day after the Winter Solstice in the Chinese lunar calendar.
Rituals involve sweeping and cleaning the grave and trimming the grass around it.
Food and flowers are also offered. People also visit columbariums and place ancestral tablets in temples. No cooking is done on this day, and food is served cold. The ninth month of the Islamic calendar, Ramadan, is one of daylight fasting for Muslims. Between sunrise and sunset, devout Muslims taste neither food nor water.