Carnival Parade

The deity parade of Yuen Long was a newly emerged custom which began in 1963. Considering that serious traffic congestions were resulted from floral tribute societies bringing offerings to the Tin Hau Temple at Tai Shu Ha, the then District Officer of Yuen Long Sir David Jones conferred with the village leaders of Shap Pak Heung to arrange one parade for all floral tribute societies. This was the beginning of the Tin Hau Festival Parade. The parade attracted large numbers of on-lookers and became an noted annual event of Hong Kong.

In 2010, 4,000 participants in 30 teams join the parade, most from floral tribute societies. The parade began in Yuen Long at the minibus stop at Fung Cheung Road and the car park at Kin Tak Street, passes through Kau Yuk Road, and turns into Yuen Long stadium. The parade team stops to perform for the public in many locations. The performances include lion, dragon and kylin dance, Chiuchow dance, ethnic drum dance, and marching bands. Among them, Yuen Long Floral tribute society is rather unique in that they dress up young children of 4 or 5 years of age as farmers or farm ladies, in reminiscence of the rural life of the previous generations.

The tallest floral tribute in Hong Kong

After the performances, those who participate in the floral tribute lottery pass through Ma Tin Road and Tai Shu Ha Road East to arrive at the Tin Hau Temple at Tai Shu Ha. It is after two by the time the final team arrives. In Shap Pak Heung there are 30 floral tributes, at the centre of which is a Tin Hau Statue – a de facto palace of the deities. The floral tribute societies builds a new tribute each year for the temple, which will be redistributed on the festival day. The 3rd tribute, named “riches and plentiful offspring”, is considered the most auspicious and had the most auspicious decorations. It measures 20-feet in height and is the tallest of its kind in Hong Kong. All floral tribute societies hope to bring this floral tribute home.

Floral tribute lottery ceremony

In the past, a floral tribute scrambling was held to decide who gets which tribute, but the scramble often resulted in conflicts. In 1949, after the founding of the Shap Pat Heung Rural Committee, all village representatives agreed to turn to lottery for the distribution of floral tributes.

After all flower tribute societies arrive at the temple, the village leaders enter the temple and use the sacred palanquin to carry the statue of Tin Hau to a pavilion outside the temple. The District Officer and District Lands Officer of Yuen Long, and the Chief Superintendent of Police officiate the floral tribute lottery ceremony. They draw the names of 30 floral tribute societies from a total of several thousand tribute tickets, and the representative of each society in turn draws the number. The society that scores the 3rd tribute receives the highest applause.

3rd day of the 3rd month of the Lunar Calendar

In 1925, the On Lok Tsuen of Fanling built a Yellow Emperor Ancestral Hall to enshrine the Yellow Emperor, which also served as the community hall for discussing affairs among residents of different clans. Later, the temple fell into disrepair with few offerings, and On Lok Tsuen was designated by the government as a factory district and faced demolition. In the late 20th century, a resident of the Tang Clan purchased the property and rebuilt it into a 7-storey Yellow Emperor Hall, and from 2006 onwards began to held the ancestral worship ceremony. The ceremony revived the beliefs in the Yellow Emperor, and helped reacquaint ourselves with the ancient rites that has passed down through the ages.

Yellow Emperor

Legend has it the Yellow Emperor is the common ancestor of the Chinese race. His surname is Gong Sun, and was born at the Xian Yuan Mound at Xin Zheng City of Henan Province. In the ancient times the Xinzheng City was named “You Xiong”, literally “Bear Presence”; which is why the bear became a symbol for the Yellow Emperor. The main entrance of Yellow Emperor Hall is guarded by two white bears.

The ground level of the Hall enshrines the Yellow Emperor, the Red Emperor – the Emperor of Agriculture, and Confucius. The 6th floor enshrines the Three Great Buddhas and the Four Great Bodhisattvas, the Three Pure Ones of the Daoist religion and the three ancestors of the Complete Reality Taoism. The Hall reveres the three religions of Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism, and aims to caters to the needs of believers of different religious persuasions.

The ancestral worship ceremony is held on 3rd of the 3rd Lunar Month. Legend has it that the Yellow Emperor unified the Chinese Kingdom and built a great empire. He established a system of bureaucrats and guided the early people to create writing, establish a calendar system, built boats and carriages, plant crops and invent the South Pointing Chariot, setting the foundations of the ancient Chinese civilization.

Traditional rites

The ancestral worship ceremony at the Emperor Hall of Fanling follows Daoist traditions and has taken reference from the procedures and rites conducted at Xinzheng City of Henan Province. Both places commence the ceremony on nine-fifty in the morning, a number that has imperial connotations. The bell is tolled 9 times followed by 34 beats of the drum, the former representing the highest honours of the Chinese race, the latter represents the 23 provinces, cities, autonomous regions and special regions.

The officiating guests, donning yellow robes, enter the main hall led by the ceremonial master. They carry out the rite of “3 bows and 9 prostrations”, offer incense, followed by chanting of invocations that eulogize the greatness of the Yellow Emperor. 

On the table of offerings are five livestock (with the exception of chicken, the four remaining livestock – oxen, swine, sheep and fish – are replaced by props), five staple crops and five fruits. Each kind of offering presents a different colour which represents the five elements; together they symbolize prosperity. Nine tripods and eight baskets serve an assortment of food, in accordance with the ancient rites arranged for the imperial emperor. The guests then take turns to present different offerings including incense, oranges, water, fruit, tea, wine, precious stones, peanuts and emperor’s gowns. The rites are majestic and solemn.

Festivities

After the ancestral worship performances of lion and dragon dance are arranged to pay homage to the Yellow Emperor and entertain the guests. The Yellow Emperor Hall is located in the New Territories and therefore follows the tradition of “division of pork” common to major clans. This carries the meaning of ancestors bestowing food and fortune to the posterity. Over a dozen of suckling pigs are cut open and divided among members of the community to foster harmony. From what was observed from the ceremony in 2008, each ceremony requires significant expenses and therefore the Yellow Emperor Hall decided to organize a large-scale every 3 or 5 years; only small scale worship ceremonies are organized in the years between.

2nd and 3rd day of the 3rd month of the Lunar calendar

Many deity festivals in Hong Kong featured the deity parade, which has the double aim to safe-guard the region and alert the community of the festival. The Tam Kong Temple at Blue Pool Road, Happy Valley enshrines two deities, and deity parades were held every year. The parade is held on the eve of Pak Tai Festival (2nd of the 3rd Lunar Month) on odd-number years, and on the eve of the birthday of Tam Kung on even-number years. It is called “the Parade of the Bodhisattva”.

Pak Tai Tam Kung Temple

In the past there was a Wong Nai Chung Village at Happy Valley. In the early years the villagers built a Tam Kung Temple at the slope near the present Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital. In 1901, the Hakka community of Wong Nai Chung raised funds to rebuild the temple at its present address at Blue Pool Road, and worshipped Pak Tai together with Tam Kung. The temple was named Pak Tai Tam Kung Temple – two deities enshrined in a temple. Later, a Tin Hau Temple was built at the back of the temple. All three deities were gods of water.

Heavenly Emperor of Xuan Tian

Pak Tai was named Zhenwu Heavenly Emperor of Xuan Tian of the North. He was originally one of the seven stars of the north, and was represented by Xuan Wu – a holy beast that was a combination of a turtle and a snake. Later, Pak Tai was said to be the general who was stationed in the north by the orders of the Jade Emperor, and was named “The Heavenly Emperor of Xuantian” until Song Dynasty, when the name was changed to Zhenwu Emperor to avoid overlapping with the title of imperial emperor. Because North bears the property of water in the Five elements (representative colour is black), and the inhabitants of Guangdong live beside the water, Pak Tai is a popular deity in the region, and protects the residents against water disasters.

Parade of the deities

There are numerous temples in Hong Kong that worshipped Pak Tai. Some are named Yui Hui Temples, and no special events are held on the Pak Tai Festival on 3rd of the 3rd Lunar Month, with the exception of more incense offerings from believers. However, the Pak Tai Temple at Happy Valley is rather boisterous with the Wong Nai Chung Neighbourhood Committee taking turns to organize festivities for Pak Tai and Tam Kung, and carries the deity in a parade on the eve of the festival.

Whether at Pak Tai Festival Parades or Tam Kung Festival Parades, the festival committee carries the shrines of the two deities out of the temple and places them in the same palanquin, accompanied by a boy called “the deity child”. The palanquin is carried by a number of men and parades the streets of Happy Valley led by a sea of flags. On the way Daoist priests chants invocations with believers sprinkling pomelo leave water to dispel evil and bring peace to the community.

The parade of deities reflect the “area of worship” of a temple. The parade route of deities Pak Tai and Tam Kung marks out the area of the old Wong Nai Chung Village; Sing Woo Road, where the parade crowd passes used to be a muddy river. The river split into two tributaries at the present day racecourse and rejoined at Canal Road. Later, the tributaries were filled up and became Wong Nai Chung Road, which encircles the racecourse. Now Wong Nai Chung Village is no longer on the map, and “Wong Nai Chung” has become a rarely mentioned name except at festivals.

The significance of the parade

Deity parades have a religious significance as well as helping to foster community cohesion. Even as the city develops and folk customs get less attention, the deity parades at Happy Valley, because of their huge attendance and the presence of lion dance troupes, maintained a rich festive atmosphere. In the afternoon, the believers who have donated offerings (of any amount) can use their ticket to enjoy the “god-worshipping banquet” at the Crescent Garden nearby. The festival committee passes the food offerings to a caterer who will prepare the feast. Each year, over 1,000 members of the community come to enjoy the feast or take food home.

Festive Opera performances

The festival committee also hires opera troupes to perform three days of god-worshipping plays which the community can freely sit in. In the afternoon of the festival, the troupe enters the temple to perform three short regular plays for the gods, including “Birthday Greetings by the Eight Immortals” (《八仙賀壽》) , “Promotion in the Court” (《跳加官》) and “The Heavenly Maiden Offering a Son” (《天姬送子》). The festival committee members offer incense and paper ingots to each deity and believers also pay their homage. The committee removes the decorations on the palanquin to be auctioned in the banquet, and the proceedings go into event expenses.