"Mun Mai"

I am not sure what is the English equivalent, but in Cantonese, it means asking a temple medium to go into a trance and try and get the spirit of a dead relative to talk about what’s happening to him or her in the other world.

A year ago, a relative asked us to find out if there was any such temple in Ipoh. We got the details and contact numbers for her but there was no response.

A few days ago, her relatives were serious and they made the appointment while we arranged to meet and showed them the way.

We got to know a few things the woman was particular about: nothing is more important than “mun mai” and everyone one in the family should be able to make it, in other words, “no buts”; cannot or no point in recording the conversation as people are known to take back the recorder and no voice could be heard when played back; and generally, do not ask too many questions!

Actually, I always feel that in any place, be it school, government department or court, the person in charge - headmaster, department head or judge respectively, is “king”. As it was our first time in dealing with the woman, my relatives naturally followed her instructions as closely as possible, since she was the one who was going to make it all possible.

The lack of crowd, which we had expected was a give away sign. But still we could not judge by that alone. Only two siblings, a brother (with his wife) and a sister came. My wife, out of curiosity, went with them into the half-visible enclosure, which has an altar with many deities. I sat outside, like a busybody, wanted to listen yet without getting involved.

The siblings were instructed to light up some josssticks and incense papers to pray to the main deity and later to their late mother.

I had never been to a “mun mai” before but from what I have heard from my mum, it involved the medium reaching out to the spirit of the dead relative and while in a trance, the spirit, through the medium, was supposed to be able to speak to those present. There are people who said that even if the medium was unable to speak a dialect, say Hokien, in a trance, he or she would be able to speak it with the same mannerisms as the deceased like when he or she was alive before. There was one case of a few siblings who must have felt the presence of their dead brother’s spirit that they cried in his “presence”. My wife related how her mum got a shock when her dead grandmother through a medium, said something about being handicapped in the other world because they put her walking stick in her coffin!

With stories like that before we went, it was a big disappointment. Listening from the outside, I could figure out that the sister was testing the medium with questions like how is your eldest son? (he was actually dead) and she was unable to state that fact; about the other children and she said she would not comment on those who did not turn up, and so on.

Under the pretext of asking questions about the family before going into a trance to ensure the right spirit was called up, I found the details given could have given her a good idea of what to say to deceive them. The dead mother supposedly asked why the daughter seemed to have many things on her mind, and that the son had collected a substantial bad debt recently could be drawn from the fact that they were business people.

In the case of the late brother, general matters like advice to look after the young children and that he would not mind if his widow found a companion, seem applicable to most cases.

Anyway, I meant to keep to myself my doubts, but as soon as we got into the car, the sister already said she doubted her ability, that she was testing her with questions and that she appeared to be guessing! Having heard about the one in Selama from her friend in Penang and who is also the one my wife knows about, they are planning for the next session!

No further comments from me.