Cheung Chau Bun Festival

The origin of Da Jiu

Da Jiu of Cheung Chau was originally named “Heavenly Emperor of Xuan Tian Tai Ping Ching Chiu”. The “Heavenly Emperor of Xuan Tian” was Pak Tai, the deity of the North and the most important deity of Cheung Chau. Folklore has it that 200 years ago, the island suffered from a pandemic which killed many. The local folks prayed to Pak Tai for deliverance from the calamity, and was given the hint that a Taoist Priest of Hoi Luk Fung should be hired to set an altar to assuage the wandering spirits and seek blessings of peace. The ceremony became the yearly Tai Ping Ching Chiu. In the beginning there were only god-worshipping and spirit-assuaging rituals, but later parade-in-the-air, god-worshipping plays and Bun Scrambling events were added which attracted large numbers of visitors. Today, the festival is a major event of Hong Kong and is listed as one of the third batch of national intangible cultural heritage items.

Lay-out of the Da Jiu arena

Besides the shrine, the bamboo-shed theatre, and the Taoist priest shed, 3 large bun mountains and several dozens of small bun mountains are built to assuage the spirits. 3 5-metre tall paper statues are erected beside the mountains, including the King of Ghosts – believed to be the incarnate of Kwun Yam Bodhisattva – whose duty is to “oversee wandering spirits so that they accept the offerings in an orderly manner”. The other two status are the God of Earth and the God of Mountains. The God of Earth has ingots in hand and is the master of all treasures of the earth; the God of Mountains bears a flag that commands wind, rain and thunder. The residents hope to bring good weather and prosperity to Cheung Chau through worshipping these deities.

Carnival Parade

The climax of the festivities is the parade-in-the-air held at 2pm on the 8th of the 4th Lunar month. Various groups and local communities dispatch parade-in-the-air, dancing lion, golden dragon and kylin teams, marching bands with Chiuchow gong and drums in over a dozen groups to parade in the major streets of the city centre, and onlookers enjoy the parade from both sides of the street. The designs of the parade-in-the-air are different every year, with characters taken from folk stories or caricatured impersonations of well-known modern characters. Those who performed extraordinarily receive high media exposure.

The parade team is led by the various deities at different temples in Cheung Chau. Each statue is placed in their own palanquins and is carried by numerous bearers. As they arrive at the last legs of the road leading up to the shrine, the bearers pick up speed to deliver the statue to the shrine in a jog. It is named “the Bodhisattva run”. In the past the fastest group to arrive at the shrine would be considered to receive the best luck, but after numerous fights over the first place the rules were changed to returning to the shrine in designated order.