The temple keeper

 

By Near Li

 

 

If happiness is tangible, it might be shaped and colored differently. Beside the street which leads to A-Ma Temple, there is an elderly woman who has spent almost her whole life there as a temple keeper. She is called “Wa Yee (Aunt Wa)”

 

It was a rainy day and I was taking photos of Macao’s historical views with friends. We met Aunt Wa when we were photographing the ancient temple. The short, black-haired woman looked energetic, whereas she said she was more than 50. She was so nice and warm-hearted, that she took us across small streets for photo-taking, and even bought us traditional desserts.

 

The temple where Aunt Wa stays is small but well organized, and the butter lamp was almost worn out. She was sitting on the left-hand side, doing preparation for the rite on the Earth God’s Birthday, the second day of the second lunar month.  

 

Usually no monk was seen in many local temples, thus the temple keepers take charge of the places. From preparing different kinds of rites and daily cleaning to security and simple odd jobs, Aunt Wa’s daily schedule in A-Ma temple is very busy.

 

“Since the age of eight,” she said about her life in the temple. “So did my grandmother and my mother.” She thought her life is simple, repeated and sometimes with some small surprises – “just like everyone else.”

 

No matter what, Aunt Wa is popular. She kept receiving people’s greetings when they passed by, even during the interview.

 

Aunt Wa continued, “I enshrine gods and help people simultaneously, I help people every day.” She said her neighbors often ask her for help, and she is glad to try her best. “Everyone likes me,” she said with a smile. “I have diabetes, but I always prepare candies for children, so they also like me.”

 

When talked about the universal topic, happiness, Aunt Wa explained that “everyone has their own feeling about happiness.”

 

She added, “I just talked with a person who is working in the funeral parlor. Our jobs are very different, the god and the dead, just like the heaven and the earth, but we do serve somebody or something, we may all feel happy, but it’s not the same happiness, and it may be the same because we all have a god in our heart. So, it’s hard to say [what happiness exactly means].”

 

However, for her, she said, “I feel happy when I eat a steamed bun, I also feel happy to help people. Meeting you also brings me happiness,” she concluded, “it’s very simple to be happy: just follow your heart, and do what you want to do.”

 

“Do what you want to do”, maybe this would be the most common thing everyone would agree that could bring happiness. The conversation between me and Aunt Wa actually ended shortly, because someone was looking for her help in the temple. She said she was going to be busy for several days preparing the rite. “Everyone should make an effort to live his/her own life, happiness is given by yourself rather than others,” she said.