How Personal Heritage Shapes Lives遺產塑造人生

杜頤明

By excavating1 the past， three Singaporeans find a deeper connection to their heritage and make it a personal mission to promote it.

A theater practitioner with ancestral2 links to an ancient sea goddess weaves his fascination with history into his plays. A traditional Chinese craft shop owner preserves his grandfathers store as a living museum. A mother and daughter share heirloom3 Indian Muslim recipes of their familys ancestors， through a home-based cooking experience.

What binds them？ Its the shared belief that heritage is not just a relic， but something sacred to protect and share.

For theater veteran Jonathan Lim， 45， it started with his familys quest to retrace their forgotten roots.

Jonathans late grandfather was the first of his Teochew clan to leave his village in Chao An in Chinas Guangdong province for Southeast Asia. The family only had his grandmothers lullaby for reference—which cryptically4 referenced a tree， bridge， temple， and black door.

When the Lims finally tracked down their ancestral village in 2005， they discovered an incredible ancestral connection—they were descendants of Lin Mo， a young woman who was believed to have transformed into the Mazu sea goddess deity. Early Chinese immigrants to Singapore would pray to Mazu for safe journeys at sea and later dedicated the Thian Hock Keng Temple to her.

This revelation spurred Jonathan to weave his extraordinary tale into his book Between Gods and Ghosts. For the younger generation of English readers， he wanted to show how ghosts and gods are inexplicably5 linked and a “messy， interconnected part of our culture.”

Today， he gathers historical tidbits6 wherever he goes—from legends about Mazu to interesting religious rituals he observes at temples， which he stows away as material for future plays.

While writing the Four Horse Road play staged in March and April 2020， Jonathan explored 160 years of lesser-known histories around Waterloo Street， one of Singapores oldest streets.

He was intrigued by the areas deeply intertwined multiculturalism and multi-religiosity.

For instance， he discovered a small altar dedicated to Guan Yin （the Goddess of Mercy） within the Sri Krishnan Temple， just next to the Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple. It inspired Jonathan to create a story about the encounter between a mainland Chinese concierge7 and a local Indian volunteer both burning kim zua （paper offerings） in the back alley.

“Everyone will go on a journey of discovery of some sort when they start asking questions，” he says. “Things from the past still enrich the present in very intangible8 ways.”

Growing up in his grandfathers shop， Jeffrey Eng recalls the wonder he felt in this massive “playground” filled with drums， gongs， erhus9， elaborate opera props， costumes and martial10 arts weapons.

In 1937， his grandfather Eng Tiang Huat set up a tailors on Merchant Road， which he named after himself. A well-respected figure in the community， he was an active committee member in several clan associations who many Teochew people sought help from.

Now located in a two-storey conserved shophouse in Geylang， the shop remains an important Chinese cultural hub and supplier to various temples， clan associations and opera troupes in Singapore.

With the shop， Jeffrey， 60， says that many visitors have a renewed interest to learn more about the Chinese clans and associations and visit other religious institutions in the nearby vicinity.

Thanks to Facebook， he now gets enquiries from New York to Japan about old， hard-to-find items they can buy from his shop or are keen to learn more on Chinese culture and heritage.

Content to spend entire afternoons regaling his tales， Jeffrey says， “I hope my shop can be an entry to educate those who wish to know about our rich traditional cultural heritage and roots.”

Through preparing dishes like mee siam biryani and varuthamavu roti， their kitchen became an entry point for Taahira Ayoob and her mother Zaithoon Ibrahim to share Indian Muslim food， culture and history.

They started Spice Zi Kitchen in 2019， after being inspired by experiencing the warm hospitality enjoyed over home-cooked meals during a trip to Uganda.

Their ancestors originally hailed from11 a small town called Kadayanallur in South India， and left for Singapore in the 1930s. Zaithoon and her relatives then recreated their recipes with their own local twist， using ingredients like pandan， tofu， tempeh， vermicelli， and lemongrass unique to the Southeast Asian region.

Over the cookery sessions， they also dish out information about festivals? celebrated by Indian-Muslims such as Hari Raya Puasa and the origins of Kadayanallur Street in Tanjong Pagar.

Through this experience， it breaks “invisible barriers”， says Zaithoon， 56. They have since stepped up public education efforts， recently speaking in a panel discussion by the Singapore Her-itage Society.

Taahira will launch a new initiative with Singaporean cookbook author Pamelia Chia， called Pass the Pasar. Using Instagram， they educate young people about wet market produce and challenge them to start cooking.

“We are just a small speck in our community， but through Spice Zi Kitchen， its become something bigger than ourselves，” adds Taahira， 28.

Amid Singapores rapid modernization， these three hope to inspire more locals to safeguard their rich heritage—be it through documentation， community engagement or public education.

Rather than seeing heritage as a large block to chip away at， which is too intimidating， give people “intimate and personal reasons to be curious and go deeper，” Jonathan says.

“The way forward is to start finding ways to repackage it as your story， the story of your house， neighbourhood， community，” he says. “Through the story of my celestial12 aunt， history reached out and pulled me in. I want to replicate13 that journey for other people.”

三個新加坡人通過挖掘過去，找到與自身遺產更深入的聯系，并把促進這種聯系作為個人使命。

一位祖上與古代海中女神頗有淵源的編劇將其對歷史的癡迷融入劇本之中;一位傳統中國手工藝店主將其祖父的店鋪當作活博物館加以保護;一對母女通過家庭烹飪分享祖傳的印度穆斯林食譜。

是什么將他們聯系在一起的呢？是共同的信念，即遺產不僅僅是一種遺物，而且是需要保護和分享的神圣之物。

就45歲的資深編劇林浩然而言，這種信念始于家人對被遺忘過往的追尋。

林浩然已故的祖父來自中國廣東潮安，是家族中第一個離開村子前往東南亞的潮州人。林家人后來對故鄉的記憶只能以林浩然祖母的搖籃曲為參考，搖籃曲中隱晦地提到過一棵樹、一座橋、一座廟和一扇黑門。

2005年，林家人終于找到祖籍所在的村莊，并發現一段不可思議的家族淵源——他們是林默的后裔。據傳，海神媽祖便是年輕時的林默所變。早期前往新加坡的中國移民都會向媽祖祈福，以保佑海上航行安全，后來他們修建了天福宮，專門用來供奉媽祖。

這一發現促使林浩然將其非凡的家族傳說編入其著作《亦神亦鬼》。他想向年輕一代的英文讀者展示，鬼魂和神靈其實難分彼此，它們是“我們文化中相互交雜的一部分”。

今天，林浩然無論走到哪里都會收集一些歷史珍聞。從媽祖傳說到寺廟里觀察到的有趣宗教儀式，林浩然都會把它們收藏起來，作為未來劇本創作的素材。

2020年3月和4月，《四馬路》在新加坡上演。撰寫該劇本時，林浩然探索了新加坡最古老的街道之一滑鐵盧街160年鮮為人知的歷史。

他對這條街緊密交織在一起的多元文化和多宗教信仰饒有興趣。

譬如，他在觀音堂佛祖廟旁的克里斯南興都廟內發現了一個供奉觀音的小祭壇。這一發現激發他創作了一個故事，講的是一位中國大陸門房和一位本地印裔志愿者在寺廟后巷里因為燒金紙而偶然相遇。

“人一旦開始問問題，便會開啟某種發現之旅?！绷趾迫徽f，“過去的事物仍會在無形之中豐富現在的生活?！?/p>

從小在祖父店鋪里長大的翁澤峰難以忘懷在這個巨大“游樂場”里感受到的驚奇，這里擺滿了鼓、鑼、二胡、精致的戲曲道具、服裝以及武行兵器。

1937年，祖父翁展發在馬真街開了一家以自己名字命名的繡莊。祖父是社區中受人尊敬的大人物，是活躍于多個宗族協會的委員，許多潮州人都向他尋求幫助。

如今，翁展發繡莊遷至芽籠一幢兩層文物保護店屋內，仍是新加坡重要的華人文化中心以及各寺廟、宗族協會和戲曲團的供應商。

60歲的翁澤峰說，因為這家店，許多游客對進一步了解華人宗族和協會又重新燃起了興趣，并開始參觀附近的其他宗教機構。

由于臉書，翁澤峰現在會收到來自世界各地的網友詢問，從紐約到日本。他們或是咨詢可以從他的店里買到哪些難尋的舊物品，或是渴望了解更多關于華人文化和遺產的信息。

翁先生愿意花上幾個下午的時間講述他的故事，他說：“我希望我的店鋪能夠成為一個入口，讓那些想要了解我們豐富傳統文化遺產和根源的人獲得教育?！?/p>

通過烹飪暹羅炒米粉和印式飛餅等菜肴，塔希拉·阿尤布和母親扎伊通·易卜拉欣將其廚房變成分享印度穆斯林美食、文化和歷史的一個切入點。

2019年，母女倆創辦了“扎媽辣廚”，二人是在烏干達旅行期間受到家常菜熱情款待得到的啟發。

她們的祖先最初來自印度南部一個名叫卡達耶納盧爾的小鎮，于20世紀30年代來了新加坡。后來，扎伊通和親戚們用本地食材再現了印度食譜，用的是香蘭葉、豆腐、丹貝、粉絲和檸檬草等東南亞一帶特有的配料。

烹飪課上，她們不但教授廚藝，還宣講開齋節等印度穆斯林節慶活動以及位于丹戎巴葛的卡達耶納盧爾街的起源。

56歲的扎伊通說，這種寓教于廚的方式打破了“無形的障礙”。自此之后，她們更熱衷于公共宣講，最近還在新加坡傳統文化協會的小組討論中發言。

塔希拉還將與新加坡烹飪書作者帕梅莉婭·賈共同發起一項新的倡議，名為“路過市場”。她們利用照片墻來教年輕人認識菜市場的農產品，并激發他們的烹飪熱情。

28歲的塔希拉說：“我們只是社區中普通的一分子，但是通過‘扎媽辣廚，我們的影響力擴大了。”

在新加坡快速的現代化進程中，上述幾位人士希望激勵更多本地人保護其豐富的遺產——無論是通過文字記錄、社區參與還是公共宣講。

林浩然說，與其把遺產看作一個被不斷蠶食的大塊頭，讓人望而生畏，不如給人們一些“親密而個人的理由，讓他們產生好奇心，進而愿意對遺產有更加深入的了解”。

“接下來要做的就是尋找方法，把遺產重新包裝成你的故事，關于你的房子、鄰里和社區的故事。”他說，“通過我的先祖媽祖的故事，歷史伸出手來，將我拉了進去。我想為他人重現這段旅程?！?/p>

（譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎者）