Retrace steps of early immigrants on Tanjong Pagar tour

Highlights of new heritage trail include 126-year-old temple, former rickshaw depot

- Chin Soo Fang

Mysterious marriages for the deceased used to take place in Seng Wong Beo temple in Peck Seah Street in Tanjong Pagar.

Two paper doll effigies - representing the groom and the bride would be offered food and presented with a paper house, complete with furnishings, from bereaved family members. The items would be placed on a paper bed at the end of the ghost marriage ritual, before being torched in an incinerator at the temple.

The temple had been carrying out this ritual, which cost about $1,000, for more than 100 years before it was stopped eight years ago.

A temple staff member, who declined to be named, said ghost couples were paired according to the cause of their death, for example, victims of miscarriages.

"Sometimes, the groom-to-be would even appear in a dream to tell his parents who he wanted to marry, and lead us to the address of the prospective bride," she said, adding that some non-Chinese people also requested the service.

The 126-year-old temple is one of the highlights of the My Tanjong Pagar Heritage Tour launched by My Community, a non-profit organisation that champions community heritage.