To All Hokkiens/Teochews: Have you 拜天公 (bai ti gong)?

I've always been ignorant about lots of Chinese customs and traditions. Today I tried to find out why the 9th day of CNY is so special to Hokkiens and even to Teochews.

*Warning* Wall of text below:

First of all, there is a story long long ago. (lol)

In the Tang dynasty, during the new year, Huang Chao's northern army massacred people who dressed differently and who speaks differently from the rest. These people are the "min nan" people, which in today's context, refers to the hokkiens and even some teochews.

Hence, these people had to flee to a sugarcane field to escape from the soldiers. It is said that on the 9th day of CNY, the army stopped the killing, and the "min nan" people finally can walk out of the sugarcane field.

That is why on this day, min nan people pray to the Jade Emperor using sugarcanes.

Since 9th is the birthday of Jade Emperor, that day is supposed to be a grand event. Firecrackers could be heard from midnight to 4am. There're alot of offerings and they also carry some meanings to it but I'm not very sure here.

Now, since firecrackers are banned in Singapore, the 9th seemed to be a very quiet event.

So what about you guys? How's your praying like? Are there alot of offerings? Because a friend told me, his parents ching chai put some fruits and cakes as offerings only. And they prayed minutes after midnight.

For me, my parents prayed on 3am. Not sure why also...