Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang
It was getting close to midnight on Saturday when hundreds of Chinese-Indonesians of all ages flocked to Vihara Nimmala or Boen San Bio temple, the largest temple in Tangerang municipality.
They all brought a wish: for prosperity and happiness.
According to Chinese tradition, both will be granted to those who take part in a ceremony known locally as pehcun -- one part of which is a competition to make chicken eggs stand upright.
On Sunday morning, more than a hundred participants, old and young, took part in the egg-standing competition. Each participant was given 15 eggs to arrange in 15 minutes.
"All of the eggs distributed to the contest participants were blessed during the pehcun prayers last night," Sutedja Budiman, the Vihara Nimmala foundation deputy chairman, said.
He said the organizing committee had hoped as many as 2008 eggs could be made to stand up during the competition.
A similar competition last year had only nine participants who managed to arrange 108 eggs in nine minutes.
"Taking part in the competition is free," Meily, one of the organizing committee members, said.
She said the winner of the trophy and a cash prize would be the participant who had the most eggs standing.
"I joined the competition just for fun. I only managed to make three eggs stand up in the 15 minutes," said Mala, one of the participants.
The hundreds of visitors who watched the competition enthusiastically cheered on the participants.
At the end of the competition, the committee collected the eggs to be cooked. The boiled eggs will be wrapped up with rice and distributed to poor people living near the temple.
According to folklore, chicken eggs can be made to stand up more easily during the pehcun ceremony.
But the story is not just a myth: it is scientifically proven. In a press release to explain the phenomenon, the committee quoted physics expert Professor David Allan.
Allan's theory says that at the moment of the pehcun ceremony, Earth is in the equinox position. In this position, the sun is directly above the equator, so the sun is the same distance from Earth's south and north.
At this time, night and day are exactly the same length.
Allan explains in his gravitation theory that there are gravitation zone lines between the sun and Earth that affect the electrons in eggs. The movement of the electrons means the eggs are more stable and can be made to stand up more easily.
Budiman said pehcun was celebrated at 10 p.m. on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar year.
Chinese traditional meals are served during the ceremony, including kwicang and bacang, which consist mainly of rice and meat. Fruit is also available.
Pehcun is said to be a ceremony in honor of Chu Yuan, a statesman who lived in the fourth century BC. Yuan is remembered as a patriotic and popular leader. He was also a poet and a great warrior.
He was born in Chu, a kingdom in ancient China. When he became a minister, he was slandered and later exiled by the king to the northern side of the Han river for 30 years.
"Pehcun is celebrated every year by people of Chinese descent all around the world," Budiman said.
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