I NEVER thought I would see the day of a crowd queuing to get into a coffin.

We Singaporeans, are known to be more than a little cautious when it comes to our luck, and taking chances on it is definitely no laughing matter.

But the mood was far from sombre at last Saturday's 'Coffin Challenge', where 100 eager participants waited in line to have their three-second stint in a mock coffin, emerging with a pair of tickets to the gala premiere of the film, The Coffin.

The event was a promotional gig meant to coincide with the film's release, and based on a Thai ritual called 'Non Loeng Sadorcro', where believers lie in a coffin to get rid of bad luck or to prolong life.

ST Photo: Alphonsus Chern

Coffins have quite the opposite effect in our local context as they are seen to be inauspicious icons, synonymous with death.

So I was rather surprised to find so many Singaporeans hopping into the coffin and gamely posing as the waking dead when the lid was flipped open.

I suppose it helped that the coffin set up on the stage was not made to look like those we're accustomed to seeing at funerals which lightened the mood considerably.

Still, I was surprised at the turnout. A good number of the participants belonged to the younger set who I expected to be more likely to throw caution to the wind when it came to superstition, but quite a few older ones were not about to miss out on the fun as well.

Which turned my expectations on its head. In fact, when I spied a mother-son pair who bowed out of the competition on realising that they had to lie in a coffin, I discovered that it was the son who said he felt uneasy about lying in a coffin 'before his time'.

As one participant 44-year-old Hassan Sulaiman put it: 'Fear is not a factor for me!'

It didn't prove to be a factor for the rest of the older crowd either.

Retiree Michael Ho didn't think it would dampen his luck in the least. His sentiments were echoed by housewife Lee Ah Eng, 52, who came with her son and two friends in tow. She said in Mandarin: 'Aiyah if you don't think anything bad will happen to you, then you will be fine!'

Another adopted a 'no harm trying' approach.

Said Miss Agnes Chong, 49: 'Anyway it's to change your luck right? I just want to try and see. If it means I have better luck and health, then it's good!'

Being a little superstitious myself, I was thoroughly impressed by how gung-ho the participants were. But I found myself chuckling along with the crowd to see people of all heights and sizes manoeuvring themselves into the coffin. It was a tight squeeze for 1.86m-tall Mr Melvin Chiu, who barely managed to fit his long frame inside the coffin. Even little Shirlifer Soh, who at six years old, was the youngest participant, fearlessly jumped into the coffin.

With only three seconds to prove you're brave enough to win, it looks like there's no time to be superstitious!