The 1st to 29th/30th day of the 7th month of the Lunar Calendar

Amongst all the Hong Kong traditional festivals, Ullambana Festival (or Ghost Festival) is the one that lasts for the longest period and covers the widest area. Every year in the 7th lunar month, people burned joss paper for the roaming ghosts and many societies held Ullambana Festival for one to five days. The number of these festivals could reach over a hundred every year and the ones held by Chiu Chow community took up the biggest proportion (around 60 per year).The festival had been inscribed onto China's third national list of intangible cultural heritage in 2011.

The 21st day of the 7th month of the Lunar Calendar

Peng Chau, though only a small outlying island with average population, has managed to retain quite a number of Chinese traditions and customs, most of which fall in the 7th lunar month. The most popular event would be the parade of Tin Hau on the 21st day of the 7th lunar month, which the locals called the “Tin Hau Parade”. It was the biggest festival on Peng Chau when people prayed for dissolving calamities and blessing of safety. The Parade route covered all the major communities over the island, attracting a large number of villagers to participate, even for those who had already moved out.

Setting of the Site

The Chiu Chow people held the Ullambana Festival with Buddhist rituals (while the Canton and Fukien people adopted the Taoist rituals). They pitched temporary sheds for gods worshiping, sutra chanting, deity costumes, Sambhavas’ statues, ghosts’ register, opera shows and offices. The gods they worshipped were “Heaven and Earth Aarents”, “The Southern and Northern Stars Gods” and “All Gods of Fortune and Well-being”. Each one of them was represented by an incense burner.

Customs and Legends

There were two versions of the Parade’s origin. One suggested that in an outbreak of an epidemic the early days had claimed many lives. The villagers were helpless and desperate until they escorted Tin Hau to the parade, which finally stopped the epidemic. So the custom had been handed down to today. Another story goes that Peng Chau once suffered from flooding because of typhoons and storms; villagers invited Tin Hau sincerely for a parade on the 21st day of the seventh lunar month. Since then the Tin Hau Parade was pracitsed on the same day every year. As the seventh lunar month was also the time of Yu Lan Ghost Festival, people also presented offerings to spirits and blessed for favourable weather to crops and safety of the whole family.

The “Triangle Harbour”

The Ullambana Festival at the Triangle Harbour has a long history, as many Chiu Chow people used to work there in the past. From the 24th to 26th day of the 7th lunar month, an opera for deities was held for three days at the Harbour. In the beginning the opera showed took place at the seaside. Later they were performed in the King George V Memorial Park in Eastern Street, and later at the West District Park. The park’s name has now been changed into Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park.

The Parade made its way along the Wing On Street where many stores were located. Taking Sing Ka Road, the procession then headed towards Tung Wan via the halfway path up the Finger Hill. villagers paid homage to the Tin Hau when the shrine passed by. The troupe took a rest when they arrived the playground of Peng Chau Chi Yan Public School. Villagers could take this chance to offer incense to Tin Hau while the theatrical troupes and auspicious animals would perform to entertain the deities and villagers. Afterwards, the Parade carried on towards Peng Lei Road by following Wing On Street. As Peng Lei Road was broad and smooth, two small flower floats花車 could join the procession, adding the carnival atmosphere to this traditional festival.    

On the third day afternoon, the ritual of “handing out food” was conducted. The Buddhist monks would recite The Yoga Flaming Mouth and threw out small flour chubs (also called pomegranate) in the last phase; people would scramble for them as they believed eating them can bring peace and safety. After the ritual, the staff cleared everything at the site related to the ghosts including the flagpole, lantern and the forefather’s register paper. All these were then burnt, symbolizing the farewell to the spirits.

Rice Dispatch

The Ullambana Festival held by Chiu Chow was known for its abundance of sacrifices. Inside the shed of gods, there are cakes, snacks, wine and accessories. Besides the register shed, there were packs of rice and daily necessities. After offering sacrifices to the ghosts, the staff members dispatched rice to the citizens that are waiting in queue. The Chiu Chow people believed that this was the way to help poor people and gain good karma for both themselves and their ancestors, whereas the awaiting citizens believed that the rice carried the blessing for peace and safety. This has made Ullambana Festival a worshipping, praying and charity event of folk culture and custom.

The 6th day of the 7th month of the Lunar Calendar

The festival has its origin in Chinese folklore which tells how the Cowherd meets his wife the Weaver on the Bridge of Magpies once a year on the 7th day of the 7th Lunar month. In ancient times, girls did not usually leave the house. Knitting and needlecraft skills were mandatory for them. Therefore, during the festival, they pled the weaver maid for ingenuity and prayed for a good husband. However, as time goes by, many women nowadays work away from home and no longer focus on sewing. As a result, the significance of the festival is declining, and so does the population of the worshippers. There are not many places in Hong Kong where the custom is still kept.

The Completion of the Virtuous Deeds

On the third night, people gathered around the venue and bid for the “fortune items” (wine and accessories). The one who paid the highest price would get the item. The income was used to cover the expense of the Ullambana Festival. By the end, the secular Buddhists conducted a ritual of “flag running”. Led by the “Golden Boy” and “Jade Girl”, the flag holders weaved on the stage to notify the gods of the completion of their virtuous deeds. The seats and sacred robes of the gods would be cremated in the middle of the night.

Unique offerings

The offerings to the Seventh Sister were different from what was usually provided to other gods. It was said the Seventh Sister was a young girl who loved to dress herself up. Thus, most of the offerings were fruits, and additionally some female necessities, e.g. traditional rouge, modern foundation powder, jewelry, paper-fans, towels, toothpaste, etc. Besides, the worshippers had not forgotten about the Cowherd that the offerings also included two pots of rice shoot, symbolizing the Cowherd’s good job on farming.

The worshippers burnt paper silver/ gold ingots and money as offerings in the paper-made “Seventh Sister’s Basin.” In the central part of the basin, there was a colorful picture depicting the scene when the Weaver meets the Cowherd on the bridge of magpies with her six sisters watching them. Some female products were also painted on the edge of the Basin. The worshippers put a small scale costume of the seventh sister and a hat of the cowherd of smaller scale next to the basin. On the hat, a sentence was written, “At the night of seven, the Cowherd meets the Weaver on the bridge of magpies,” which represented their best wishes for a good marriage.

Bidding for holy articles

At about 7pm, when more and more worshippers gathered at the Seventh Sister’s temple, the bidding begins. They told the abbot which article they wanted, and then practiced cup divination in front of the shrine; the person who got a certain cup result could take the chosen article home. The most popular article was the statue of the Seventh Sister and seven floral-lanterns which were the symbols of the goddess. If the worshiper failed to get her first choice, she could bid for other articles like fans, hair pins, needlecrafts, silver necklaces, and jadeware. Whatever the result was, no one went home with empty hands. Worshippers would buy the same article they got from the bidding next year and returned it to the temple for a new round.