Penang's Snake Temple is perhaps the only temple of its kind in the world. The temple is filled with a variety of pit vipers and smoke from burning incense. The vipers are believed to be harmless due to the sacred smoke; but just for good measure, the snakes have also been de-venomed.
The temple was built in about 1850 in memory of Chor Soo Kong, a Buddhist monk who moved to Penang . According to legend, the pious monk gave shelter to the snakes of the jungle and when the temple was completed, the snakes moved in.
Believers from as far as Singapore and Taiwan come to pray in the temple on Chor Soo Kong's birthday (the sixth day of the first lunar month). You can touch the snakes, and for a fee, you can have your picture taken holding these reptiles.
|