Before our conquest for Chinese food began, our class ventured into the Tin How Temple to fulfill our spirituality requirement for the day. Here’s a review of the temple from Fodor’s San Francisco Sights index:
Duck into the inconspicuous doorway, climb three flights of stairs—on the second floor is a mah-jongg parlor whose patrons hope the spirits above will favor them—and be assaulted by the aroma of incense in this tiny, altar-filled room. Day Ju, one of the first three Chinese to arrive in San Francisco, dedicated this temple to the Queen of the Heavens and the Goddess of the Seven Seas in 1852. In the temple's entryway, elderly ladies can often be seen preparing "money" to be burned as offerings to various Buddhist gods or as funds for ancestors to use in the afterlife. Hundreds of red-and-gold lanterns cover the ceiling; the larger the lamp, the larger its donor's contribution to the temple. Gifts of oranges, dim sum, and money left by the faithful, who kneel mumbling prayers, rest on altars to various gods. Tin How presides over the middle back of the temple, flanked by one red and one green lesser god. Take a good look around, since taking photographs is not allowed.
Initially, the heavy incense smoke was enough to make me feel worse than Tom Sizemore after a binge, I didn’t think I was going to last.* After hearing a brief history of the Tin How Temple, the oldest temple in San Francisco, my nausea subsided and the incense had permeated my soul, I think. (Photography was not allowed, but I managed to sneak a couple shots, so far there has been no spiritual retribution).
Professor Silver asked if any students would volunteer in the prayer and fortune telling ritual that a few patrons had been performing, (while quietly navigating through the crowd of students). One student mumbled that she wouldn’t partake because she didn’t believe in fortune telling, inferring that it would be disrespectful. I volunteered, partially because I kind of believe in fortune telling (A fortune teller in Philadelphia was spot on about four years ago) and I like volunteering for stuff.
The first step was to light a small bundle of incense (because they seemed to be short of their thousand stick at a time quota) and place it into of the incense holders. That sounds easy enough, but I fumbled around looking for a place to light the incense for a good 45, awkward seconds. After spending a good amount of time attempting to light each individual stick of incense, I placed them in the incense holder (is there a better word for that??) with the rubber band still holding the sticks together. After being slightly admonished for this, I carefully removed the band while slightly burning myself with the incense ashes.
I knelt before the incense holder, while holding my hands together and rocking back and forth, and asked a question which could be revealed by the fortunes.
I was then instructed to kneel in front of the shrine and shake a cup containing 100 sticks. Each stick is individually numbered, the number corresponding to a fortune. The goal is to shake the cup back and forth so that only one stick falls out onto the floor. I accomplished this more or less on the first try, and the number of the stick was 50.
After retrieving the English version of the fortune corresponding to my stick, # 50, the woman who had given us the brief history of the temple handed me the pink piece of paper vaguely describing my future. It reads:
LOT 50
“Born on a voyage on the boundless ocean.
Sails hoisted high begin to billow and strain.
With winds behind to push the ship along:
Great chests of jewels and treasure will be yours.”
This lot describes a ship sailing in a favourable wind. It signifies that everything will turn out to be favourable. You lead a life of ease and comfort. Rewards will come to you without much effort (Yes!). As such a large fortune is entirely yours, people’s gossip and envy will be aroused. Both you and your family will enjoy safety and peace. Business is better done in the later part of the year, and you should look for wealth and fortune in the west. Match-making cannot be finalized, but pregnancy will be safe. Autumn is the season most favourable for silk and grain crops, while livestock prospers in the spring. Travelers will run into difficulties, but the missing will be found. Lost things can be traced and found in the west. Lawsuits will go against you and migration is not recommended. Sickness will be cured. Fortune dwells in the southern part of your ancestral graves.
Not a bad fortune.
After the Tin How Temple, we went to eat at the New Asia restaurant. I don't normally go out for Chinese food, in fact I think this is the first time I've ever gone out for Chinese food. The extent of my trips in China town were either to:
A. Look for a place to go to the bathroom
B. Short cut to North Beach
I grew up in a small family, in which the cook/itinerary-planner/dictator/mom was not fond of Chinese Cuisine. Also being a Pescatarian (spell check doesn't even know what this is), I was limited to the tofu, which was quite good.
It's always good to try new things, so I enjoyed myself. Plus, I got to play with my food while others took some great/gross pictures.
* If you don’t understand the Tom Sizemore reference: http://tinyurl.com/d5hjv6
