We carefully select and curate our Hokkien Funeral package to include:
Administration
- Assistance in Death Certificate Reporting & Transfer service
- Services Team for Hokkien Funeral Procession (1 Team)
- Pre-brief by Funeral director
- Setup of tentage
- Donation collection box
Casket Services
- 4-sided casket (Crematable)
- Embalming & Make-up for Taoist funeral
Transportation
- Toyota Glass Hearse Rental (1 Trip for Taoist funeral)
- Rental of 40 seater Coach
HDB tentage
- Carpet Tiles & Curtains for Casket Area
- 1 Set of Hokkien Funeral Front Arch (一幅三门四桩)
- Hokkien Priest Services: Encoffinment (1 Priest) , Final Night ( Xiao tan) (3 Priest) , Funeral Procession (1 Priest)
- Teochew Shan Tang
- Photo Enlargement and Framing
- Floral Photo Wreath
- Setup and rental of Tentage
- U Shape Tentage & 1 Canvas Set, 3 Canvas Pieces
- 10 Round Tables + 100 Chairs
- 15 Square Tables
- 6 Fans
- Wiring and Lighting Services and Rental
Funeral home
- Kong Meng San memorial – excluded
Offerings
- Fruits & Vegetarian Food Offerings
- Taoist Funeral Large Lanterns (2 Pairs)
- Taoist Funeral Golden Boys and Jade Maidens
- 6ft Paper House
- Burning tray
- Metal Cage for Paper House
- Taoist Funeral Altar Flowers
- Heaven & Earth blankets
- Incense sticks
- Paper offerings
Mobile toilet
- Porta John – excluded
Food
- Buffet catering
- Snacks and drinks
- Chef + Cooking space setup – excluded
Cremation
- Mandai Cremation (Location changes subjected to Extra charges)
- Ash collection
Items are customisable based on specific requirements of our clients for our Hokkien funeral packages. We designed our Hokkien funeral service adequately to fulfill the needs of most clients.
How are Hokkien Funerals carried out in Singapore?
The Hokkien people are the descendants of the earliest Chinese settlers on the Peninsula who originated mainly from Fujian Province in China.
They are one of the largest Chinese clans in Singapore with their own distinct Chinese funeral rites.
What Hokkiens do before the funeral
Home altars are covered with cloth along with mirrors and any other reflective surfaces. Though this is rarely practiced in modern times.
A family member will prepare the clothes for the funeral wake of the deceased.
Most will hire funeral directors to guide the process and ease their burdens.
A funeral date will be chosen based on feng shui and an odd number is chosen for the funeral.
Prior to the actual funeral service, family members will gather at home or the funeral parlour for the casket’s arrival.
Once everyone is present, the casket will be carried in after cleansing and cosmetology services are done and everyone will bow whilst the coffin is brought in and placed on the floor as a show of filial piety.
As with most clans, Hokkiens are also not allowed to look when the coffin is being moved.
The altar is immediately set up and it includes a portrait photo enlargement of the deceased with food offerings, white candles, and an incense pot for joss sticks.
It is important to ensure no one is wailing and crying on or around the coffin. Anyone menstruating will not be allowed near the coffin either.
If the casket is brought home, it needs to be transferred to the funeral parlour later for the funeral wake. Though of course, a funeral director will be able to arrange for direct transportation.
What Hokkiens do for their funeral day service
The funeral director or family members will set a reception table with a money box, a guest book, and sweets whilst some would even offer joss sticks, joss paper, and other paper offerings for guests to offer their condolences.
The guests are allowed to visit the body of the deceased in funeral parlours and comfort the bereaved families.
In funeral services for Chinese culture, it is important for the deceased to always eat first.
The wife of the eldest son will be responsible for placing food offerings at the altar.
After a suitable period of about 30 minutes, meals will be served to everyone else.
Praying Rites
Chinese funerals often have prayers that last around 30 to 45 minutes each. Some can even last up till 2 hours — depending on the type of package purchased by the family.
For Hokkiens, the names of the surviving children and grandchildren will be read out by the Taoist priests in the first session of the prayer.
The person whose name is called will raise their hand or bow their head to ‘check in’.
Everyone will be required to hold joss sticks whilst they listen to the prayer chants and bow and stand when there is an indication to do it.
The other sessions will involve a lot of sitting and paying respect to the deceased’s soul between the chants. Mostly, the mantras focus on the accomplishment of a person’s life, as well as stories about life and death.
Additionally, it is not strange to have both Taoist priests, and Buddhist monks present during different days of the funerary procession. This is common with most Chinese funerals and dialect groups, however, only one religion takes precedence over the other (with Buddhist monks visiting for a day, and Taoist priests anchoring the entire procession — or vice versa).
On the last night of the funeral wake
The last night for funeral rites is when paper products that act as offerings are presented to the dead.
There may be some subtle differences in paper products offered as it is based on personal preferences but most will offer a paper house, car, electronic appliances, and other material items.
The most extravagant item burnt was a life-sized Cessna aeroplane.
These items will be burnt along with plenty of joss paper during traditional Chinese funerals and family members will be instructed to call out to the deceased during the offering to collect the items that are presented to them.
It is important to ensure everything gets burnt during the offering.
What Hokkiens do on burial day
The eldest son is usually the one who carries the portrait of the deceased along with ceremonial items. However, the funeral parlor can offer such services to the family if they are worn out from mourning and praying for so long.
Before the coffin is nailed shut, everyone present except children are allowed to pay their final respects to the dead.
A large cloth is placed over the coffin after nailed shut and a live band playing traditional Chinese music will be played loudly to drive away evil spirits during the trip to the car that is headed to the burial grounds or a crematorium.
The burial
At the burial grounds, the priest carries the last rites of the deceased and places the coffin on the ground.
A funeral oration can be done here as well before the coffin enters the ground.
It is important for everyone to turn their backs away from the coffin as it moves into the ground to ward off bad luck.
The sons are allowed to look into the grave to ensure that the alignment of the coffin is straight before the soil is tossed in.
More prayers are offered to the earth deity and other Gods, depending on different dialect groups and at the end of it, each family member goes up to the grave, grabs a handful of dirt, and throws it into the hole where the body lies in its casket.
They are required to leave the grave site immediately without washing their hands.
For cremation, it is more straightforward as priests perform their final rites in the cremation hall before guiding the body to the crematorium. Bones are then picked using chopsticks, while a funerary employee ensures that all pieces (arranged head to toe) fit nicely into the urn.
Afterward, another round of rites are performed at the home and final resting place of the deceased.
Post funeral services
At the funeral parlour, a sit is left empty for the deceased and their clothes are fastened over the chair as an indication that there is someone sitting there.
The incense pot is brought back and placed on the table in front of the deceased. Candles are lit and everyone had joss sticks to pray again.
However, the prayer is done to welcome the deceased back home and to invite them to eat with everyone else.
After that, flower water is used to cleanse the face, hands, legs, and even hair of everyone who went to the burial grounds.
Immediately thereafter, clothes must be changed to signify the end of the mourning, and mee-sua is eaten.
Other Relevant Rites
For a detailed overview of Chinese funerary practices, click on our Taoist funeral services page to find out more.
You can also take a look at our Buddhist funeral services page as well.
