13th day of the 2nd Month of the Lunar Calendar

Many Hung Shing Temples in Hong Kong organize celebrations on the 13th of the 2nd Lunar Month, with events at Ho Sheung Heung of Sheung Shui, Kau Sai Chau of Sai Kung, Ap Lei Chau of Aberdeen, Lantau Island of Mei Wo most prominent and well attended; Hung Shing Temple at Tai Kok Tsui celebrates in advance in form of a Temple Fair on the first Sunday of March. Certain villages like Po Toi O in Sai Kung celebrate Hung Shing Festival on the 13th of the 8th Lunar Month.

2nd day of the 2nd Month of the Lunar Calendar

Since their migration to the present-day New Territories in Song and Yuan Dynasties, the major clans of Hong Kong have been worshipping their ancestors in their ancestral halls. They share a deep-rooted belief that through the rites of worship, their ancestors bestow blessings on their posterity. The activity also fosters cohesion between members of the clan and advocates the morals of revering one’s ancestors. With the exception of the Great Clearance in the early Qing dynasty, the ancestral worship activities in Hong Kong have not been interrupted and have passed from generation to generation, which become a unique local custom. Although some of the rites have now been simplified, one may gain a glimpse of rural life in the olden days and the traditional thoughts in the Chinese society.

Liu Man Shek Tong

Many rural clans in the New Territories organize spring worships. They are the most important clan activities of a year. The date of the worship differs between villages, but it is mostly held in the 2nd or 3rd Lunar Month. The ancestral worship ceremony of the Liu Clan of Sheung Shui in particular retains a majority of traditional rites, with rich offerings. The spring worship on the 2nd of the 2nd Lunar month each year is joined not only by clansmen but also by many students and local custom lovers visiting Liu Man Shek Tong, who hope to have a better understanding of village customs through the ancestral worship ceremony.

The ancestors of the Liu Clan migrated southwards at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and settled first in Tuen Mun, then moved to Sheung Shui. The Liu Man Shek Tong, which was built in 1751, was the Ancestral Hall of the Liu Clan. It is a traditional three-hall building with two open courtyards, and enshrines founding ancestors such as Liu Chung-kit. Women were not allowed to enter the ancestral hall in the past, but as times change the rule has been relaxed, but during times of ancestral worship, women of the clan have to stay outside the hall.

Traditional rites

On the day of the spring worship a tableful of offerings is placed before the ancestral shrine. Besides tea, wine, rice, soup and all manners of seafood and other vegetarian food, there are “five raw and five cooked ingredients” – comprising various entrails and meats of chicken and swine – placed in ten dishes. The “Five raw” ingredients are laid in unique forms: chicken meat is carved in hen-form, the pork is scored with crisscrossing cuts to give an impression of “fields”, the pig’s heart is made into a “lotus flower”, the pig’s liver is made into a “leaf”, the pig’s stomach is made into a “rat”. The last is fashioned out of the traditional notion that rats only emerge when food is abundant; which is why a rat is used to symbolize the wish for abundant harvest. It is a representation of the values of the rural village.

The ancestral worship rites begin at 11 in the morning. The rundown follows that of the ancient customs, with over a dozen ceremony masters taking up various tasks, including the Tong Zhan (responsible for chanting), Yin Zhan (responsible for rites of passage), Si Zhu (responsible for declaiming the invocations), Si Zun (responsible for wine offering), Si Pao (responsible for the launch of fireworks), Si Gu (responsible for sounding the drum and gongs), and the passing of offerings. The most senior member of the clan presents the offerings to ancestors and deities to the ancestors, and then other clansmen offer wine according to the order of seniority. The entire ceremony takes 45 minutes, which has been greatly shortened compared to the past, but it still retains much of the old ways. For example, the invocations read by the Tong Zhan and Si Zhu are written in ancient style, and they are read in a slightly Hakka inflection.

Worshipping the Land

The Chinese character she (社), made up by the radicals representing god and earth, is symbolic of the activity of worshipping the Earth God. Among the villagers of the New Territories, she was also known as the “Great King” , a variant of the Earth God like the “Bo Gung” (literally, “great uncle”). There were 11 Hakka villages at Plover Cove, including A Shan Village, Tseng Tau Village, Tung Tsz Village, Wai Ha Village, San Tau Kok Village, Chim Uk Village, Lee Uk Village, Chan Uk Village, Wong Yue Tan Village, Ha Tei Ha Village and Sha Lan Village. Since the ancient times these villages had been co-organize the “Thank the Deities” ceremony on or around 15th of the 12th Lunar Month; on the 15th of the 1st Lunar Month they would organize the “Pray to the Deities” ceremony.

The Seven Jia Arrangement

The eleven villages took reference from the traditional Baojia system (a system of cooperatives comprised by family units) and formed seven jia (one jia was 10 families) to co-organized the zuo she event around New Year’s Eve and during the New Year. Every year, each jia would appoint two villagers as the heads, who would pool funds to purchase offerings to be used in the worship of the Earth God at the altar. They would also use the traditional-style stove by the altar to prepare braised pork to servce all the villagers. In the past every family were required to contribute one dollar to the pool, and only two members of the family were allowed to come to share the pork. Since the establishment of the Shuen Wan Joint Village Commons, the expenses were taken up by the Village Commons, and there were no more limits to the number of participants.

Braised Pork in Hakka Style

In the old days villagers slaughter the pigs by the altar of the Earth God, and then clean it in the nearby stream before cook it. Now, out of convenience, the pork is bought from markets. In the past experience, around 200 villagers would show up every time, and the head of the cooperative would prepare some 120 kg of pork to be cooked in four batches in a large pot. Meanwhile, the pig’s entrails would be used to make congee, the so called she congee, to serve the early comers.

The Functions of the Alliance

In order to defend themselves against the larger clans, Hakka villagers in the old days would join forces with nearby Hakka villages to form an alliance of indigenous origin, and together they would worship the Earth Gods of all villages. The alliance was also capable of calling upon villagers to participate in work of mutual interest, for example the eleven villages in Plover Cove pooled some HK$8 million to rebuild the Sam Kung Temple in 2009. The temple was initially built in early Qing Dynasty at Ha Tei Ha, where the thank-the-gods ceremony used to be held. In 1936, the temple was left to ruin after suffering extensive damages in a typhoon, and the ceremony was moved to be conducted at the altar of the Earth God nearby. Now the temple has been rebuilt, but the ceremony of zuo she is still conducted at its current location.

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 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.

Buddha Bathing Festival

The main rite of the Buddha’s birthday is the bathing of the Buddha. Water is poured over the Buddha’s statue, which is usually a small statue of a top-naked prince assuming a position of “one hand touching the earth and one hand pointing towards the heaven”. According to Buddhist sutras, when Prince Siddh?rtha Gautama of the ancient Indian nation of Kapilavast was born 2,600 years ago, one of his hand touched the earth and another pointed towards the heaven. He walked 7 steps in four directions with one lotus flower blooming in each step he treaded, and intoned, “"Supreme am I in the world, Greatest am I in the world”. Prince Siddh?rtha later became the Buddha (meaning the enlightened one), and was given the revered title of “Sakyamuni”, meaning the saint of the Sakyas. As the prince was born the king of dragons gave him a bath with a shower of water, and this is the origin of the Buddha Bathing Festival.

The date of Buddha’s Birthday

When was the Buddha born? Different factions tell different stories. In 1950, a group of Buddhist leaders from Europe, America, and Asia gathered in Colombo, the capital of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) to found The World Fellowship of Buddhists. They discussed the mission and responsibilities of the Buddhists and agreed upon the date of Buddha’s birthday. According to the results of their discussion, the Buddha was born in 623 B.C.E., achieved enlightenment in 588 B.C.E., lived for 80 years in our world and arrived at nirvana in 543 B.C.E. The Buddhist calendar began from when the Buddha arrived at nirvana, with the addition of one year upon each Buddha’s Birthday. 2010 was year 2554 of the Buddhist Calendar.

However, Buddhists remain divided over the birthday of the Buddha. Chinese Buddhism (including China, Taiwan and Macau) took the 8th of the 4th lunar month as the Buddha’s Birthday, and Korea followed suit. South Asian nations including Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Bhutan, Singapore, Malaysia, Nepal, Bangladesh and some regions of India adopted the day of the full-moon in the 5th Lunar Month as the Vesak – the Buddha veneration festival. They also celebrate celebrates the birth, enlightenment and nirvana of the Buddha on this day.

The significance of the bathing

Buddhist monasteries of larger scales in Hong Kong held public Buddha bathing ceremonies on 8th of the 4th Lunar Month. The Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery in Shatin, for example, received large crowds of believers through the day. In the morning, the monks conduct an assembly and chant sutras at the Main Temple Building. Later, led by a senior monk, believers queue outside Pagoda to bath the Buddha statue using a water scoop. Buddhists believe that besides commemorating the birth of the Buddha, the bathing ceremony also cleanses the filth in a person’s heart, i.e. greed, anger and delusion. Through cleansing and reflecting on one’s ails, one achieves the purpose of eliminating vexations.

The celebration of Buddha’s Birthday in Hong Kong also carries folk colour. The volunteers of the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery distribute white rice donated by charitable individuals on Buddha’s Birthday in front of the Main Temple Building. They place white rice and peanuts (the fruit of longevity) in red packets which are distributed to all who come to worship the Buddha. The packet is called the “rice of wellbeing”.

The Fan Sin Temple existing today was built in Emperor Qianlong’s reign of Qing Dynasty; the wooden plaque hanging at the main hall of the temple was carved in the Geng-xu year (1790) of Qianlong Emperor’s reign, 200 years from now. The temple is taken care of by people of the ten villages in Wun Yiu, as a declared monument in Hong Kong.

The Fading of Fan Sin’s Birthday Festival

Though local porcelain industry has declined, the ten villages in Wun Yiu County still celebrated Fan Sin’s Birthday on 16th of the 5th Lunar Month. There was a Guan Di Temple in the neighborhood, where the villagers celebrated Guan Di’s birthday on 13th of the 5th Lunar Month. Since the two gods’ birthdays are so close, they are usually celebrated together with a live Chinese operas and dramas performance for ghosts lasting for 5 days and 4 nights, creating an extremely exciting scene.

However, fewer and fewer villagers participatied in the events. One reason is that some villages in Tai Po were dismantled because of the land acquisition by the government. Many villagers then moved into buildings and stopped donating for the celebration. The performances were cancelled in 1987 due to the lack of money and hands. And, because of the lack of seniors who know the customs, the rituals were getting simpler these years.

The Identity of Tai Wong Yeh

One Tai Wong Yeh Temple is located in Yuen Chau Tsai Island. The date of its construction is uncertain, nor is Tai Wong Yeh’s identity. Some say he is the god of plague, having once saved people from a fatal epidemic; other views regard him as the patron saint of fishermen, who ensures the harvest and harmony of the community. In fact, Tai Wong Yeh comprises three figures, who were said to be brothers, hence some people think they might be “Kings of Three Mountains” in the Chaoshan area. They used to have different birthdays, but for the convenience of worship, people celebrate Tai Wong Yeh’s Birthday on the 8th day of the 5th Lunar Month.

Celebration Organizers

There were originally 5 clans (Shek, Chung, Sue, Tsui, Lee) of Hoklo fishermen on Yuen Chau Tsai Island, who raised funds for the reconstruction of Tai Wong Yeh Temple and celebrate Tai Wong Yeh’s Birthday every year. The Birthday Festival was held by them annually. When the Tai Po downtown was under development in the late1970s, the government evened out Yuen Chau Tsai Island for new roads and buildings. Away from their homeland, the villagers found no place to hold the activities. The festival was later moved to the Feng Shui Square opposite the Tin Hau Temple near old Tai Po Market.

On the 6th of the 5th lunar month, the villagers returned to Tai Wong Yeh Temple on Yuen Chau Tsai Island to invite the gods, escorting them to Feng Shui Square by car and placed them in a shrine for worship. A stage was also built at the location where live Chinese operas and dramas were performed for entertaining the ghosts and community for free for 10 days – Cantonese Opera in the first 5 days, Hailufeng Opera for the rest.

The 5th day of the 5th lunar month

The Dragon Boat Festival has a history of 4000-5000 years and its origin was related to sacrifice offering. Different places have their own interpretation but the version of commemorating the poet Qu Yuan was the most widely accepted by rulers over the course of history. Having been passed down through the generations, most of us have forgotten the original significance of the Dragon Boat Festival with only the conventions of Dragon Boat racing and eating rice dumplings preserved. The only exception aws the people in Tai O, who still followed the ancient convention of Dragon Boat Water Parade, which was listed for application in the third national list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of China in 2009 by the government of HKSAR and was formally inscribed in 2010 under the approval of Ministry of Culture.

Picking the Greens and Drinking Dragon

Before the parade, participants rowed the Dragon Boats to the abandoned plot of land behind the Yeung Hau Temple. They patted the chopped grass on the Dragons’ head and put it in their mouth to give liveliness to the Dragon Boats. Then they rowed them back to the “Dragon Base” (the temporary shed for gods), where they tied the pomelo leaves on the Dragon’s head and sticked runes on its body. Then began the “Drinking Dragon” ceremony, in which people “cleaned the filth” with paper gold or silver ingots and pomelo leave water, and then a few drops of rooster blood mixed with Chinese white wine was sprinkled on the Dragon Boat, symbolizing the vigorous spirit.

God Invitation Ceremony

The God Invitation Ceremony started when everything was ready. Boats with deity statues towed by the dragon boats headed to the four temples to invite the gods (Yu Yip Hong and Hap Sam Tong held the event in the morning of the 4th day of the 5th lunar month, whilst Pa Teng Hong starts in the morning on the next day). Before inviting the gods, the person in charge had to ask for god’s permission by offering incense and ask for an answer by throwing Jiaobei. The god's statue would be removed and settled on the sacred boat only if the consent of the god was secured.

Among a variety of temples in Tai O, which God was of the most significance in the mind of the villagers? It could be told from the order of the entourage. The villagers started from Yeung Hau Temple, followed by Tin Hau Temple, Hung Shing Temple and Kwan Tai Temple. The order was the same when they escorted the God back after the ceremony.

Dragon Boat Race

After the Water Parade, the sacred boats belonged to the three fishermen’s associations berthed at their own Dragon’s Base, while the three Dragon Boats in the lead would have a competition show in front of the sacred boats of Pa Teng Hong to please the God. At the same time Dragon Boat Race was held in the same water for entertainment, which was always more competitive and exciting comparatively and therefore more appealing than other activities.

The Origin of Ullambana Festival

This Festival was brought to Hong Kong by Chiu Chow people who worked as hard labours back in many years ago. At that time they were far away from home leading a tough life. Hence, the relationship amongst their fellowmen became especially strong. They called each other “brother” although they were not necessarily next of kin. When some of their fellowmen died in Hong Kong, they held an Ullambana Festival in the 7th lunar month of the year according to their home custom in order to release the soul of their “good brothers” (wandering spirits )from purgatory. Meanwhile, they also worshipped the gods and showed their respect to their ancestors, hoping for blessings and protection.

The Parade

The Parade was organized by the Tin Hau Temple Festival Committee of Peng Chau. Usually a statue of the Taishi (King of Ghosts) would be placed in front of Tin Hau Temaple to deter the restless spirits from roaming the earth and causing chaos. The Chanting Monks informed all the deities by reciting a list of villagers’ names before the Parade started. The Parade usually started at noon or sometime later, which was determined by tossing Jiaobei blocks in the morning on that day.

When it was time to start, the Committee members invited the statue of Tin Hau from the Tin Hau Temple and placed it in the portable shrine神輿. People letted off firecrackers as the parade set off with 12 men carrying the shrine and some other relay men following along. Three Chanting Monks lead the procession and two flower girls escorted it, while quite a few people held high flags, brocade canopies, swords and spears, incense burners, placards of “silence” and “respect”. It was just like an inspection tour of an empress in the ancient times. Thousands of people following the parade included a dozen of local associations, martial arts groups and theatrical troupes. With the auspicious animals marching at the end of the parade, the scene was more than joyful and bustling.

Buddhist Rituals

On the first day morning of the three-day festival, people invited the gods. The members of the organizer invited the gods to the matshed to allow the devotees worshipping them with incense. Then the flags were hung high to attract the ghosts to listen to the sutra chanting, watch the operas, have fun and food. At one corner of the site, a portrait of Sambhava was placed as a deterrence to prevent the ghosts from making trouble or disturbance. The ritual of initiating the altar and the subsequent rituals were conducted by the secular Buddhists.

In the evening of the second day, there was a ritual of “appeasing the land of the five positions”. Five tables were placed in front of the sutra chanting shed attars, representing east, south, west, north and centre respectively. Thirteen Buddhists kept running back and forth, waving flags in yellow, green, white, red and black with the rhythm of the music. This was conducted to invite the gods of five positions to come and sweep away the negative energy and dissolve the calamities.

Sprint on the Return Route

Upon passing the bridge on Tai Lei Island, the Parade started to turn back. When people returned to the forthright in front of the Tin Hau Temple, various groups sprint back to the temple in order to pay homage to Tin Hau as the residents thought this could bring them good luck. The Parade came to an end as martial arts groups and the little girls on the flower floats arrivd the temple to give brief performances to both deities and people.

The Parade of Tin Hau was not crowded with people as the Piu Sik Parade (literally: floating parade) in Cheng Chau Bun Festival, making it easier for visitors to watch or even join the Parade if they wish to experience this local custom. As Tin Hau was highly regarded by all the villagers of Peng Chau, this unique Parade always attracted and united all the bodies on the island, showing fully the local character of Peng Chau.

Yu Lan Ghosts Festival

When the Parade was over, people held Little Ghosts Rituals 祭小幽 in the evening to expiate the sins of the spirits and rid villagers of misfortune. In the afternoon of the following day, i.e. the 22nd day of the 7th lunar month, villagers moved the statue of Taishi to a vacant area near the pier. During the night, the Big Ghosts Rituals祭大幽 was held where 26 seats for the spirits were placed on the ground and each seat was prepared with fruits and snacks. Once the statue of Taishi was cremated in the late night, villagers dashed for the offerings on the ground as they believed consuming them could bring them peace.

Plead for skills

It is said that the Weaver was the seventh daughter in the family, so she was also called “the seventh sister” or “the seventh goddess”; the festival was also known as “Qixi Festival”, “Ingenuity-begging Festival”, “Double-seven Festival”, and “The Festival of Daughters.” The earliest descriptions of the two celestial stars, the Cowherd (Altair) and the Weaver (Vega), could be found in historical documents of Shang and Zhou Dynasties. The love story between the Cowherd and the Weaver, from which the festival originated, dates back to Han dynasty.

Recorded in the book Jin Chu Sui Shi Ji by Zong Shan of Liang of Southern Dynasty in the 6th century: “On the night of the 7th day of the 7th Lunar month, when the Cowherd and the Weaver meet, women of every household dress up and thread needles which are made of silver, gold or brass. They put carved melons in the yard to plead for ingenuity and if any melon is weaved on, the request is granted,” It means that the girl who owns the melon, on which the spider weaves its net on has pleased the Weaver and will be blessed with ingenuity. This custom is very popular in Guangdong area where people call the Weaver “fairy sister” and worship her as the protector of textile workers, lovers, women and children.

Worshipping The Seventh Sister

Among the temples of Seventh Sister in Hong Kong, the one on Peng Chau is quite famous. The temple was built on a terrace and it has one entrance only. It is so small that it can only accommodate two persons. There is a pavilion in front of the shrine for the worshippers to place their offerings on to the Seventh Sister. The temple does not have many visitors even on the Seventh Sister’s birthday, there is only a few dozens of citizens to worship. It is obvious that this custom is fading.

Felebration was usually held in the evening. People from Peng Chau visiedt the temple at the night of 6th day of the seventh lunar month. Most of the worshippers were middle-aged women; some went with their daughters, hoping the tradition can be passed on to the next generation. When they were asked about their wishes, most people said they had pled for peace and smoothness but none of them mentioned marriage; whether marriage was still their main concern was no body’s guess.

Confucianism

Confucius was born in the Kingdom of Lu (what is at present Qu Fu of Shandong Province). He is an educator and philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period, and was revered as “the Saint”, “the Supreme Teacher” and “the Model of all teachers of all time”. He advocated the thoughts of “kindness”, “rites”, “education through ethical rule”, and was upheld as the founder of Confucianism. He passed away in 479 B.C at the age of 73. His thoughts have been passed down the ages and pervaded through every aspect of Chinese living and culture, influencing even the neighbouring regions.

The Ceremony of Worshipping Confucius

According to the Books of History, the worship of Confucius by the Imperial Emperor began in the 12th year in the reign of Emperor Gaozu of Han Dynasty (195 B.C.E). During the reign of Emperor Wudi of Han Dynasty, he held Confucianism in supreme regard and dismissed all other schools of thought. This helped to establish the predominant status of Confucianism. It is also the reason why the rites passed down over the ages display a hint of Han Dynasty styles. During the Republican Era, the ceremony of worship of Confucius was simplified, though from a modern perspective it remains highly elaborate, with each detail performed to great exaction.

The Eight-row Dance

On the 10th Anniversary of the reunification of Hong Kong with Mainland China, the Confucian Academy of Hong Kong organized at the Hong Kong Stadium the “Worldwide Ceremony of the Worship of Confucius”, with a turnout of over ten thousand. A 200-strong team from Qu Fu of Shandong was also invited to participate in the traditional ceremony, re-enacting the Confucian worship procedures as conducted by the Emperor of Han some two millennia ago.

The Eight-row Dance performed in the ceremony was participated by 64 Yisheng (a rite dancer). The Yi Dance was a dance of rite performed in the Han Imperial Court, which accentuated neatness and formality. The Eight-row Dance was the highest order of such a form of dance, and was performed only during the heaven worship ceremony of the Emperor. It involved six separate passages of songs, each composed by 8 lines of poetry of 4 character each – a total of 32 characters. Each Yisheng would hold a tail feather (a dance instrument) in the right hand, and a short Chinese flute in the left hand (a musical instrument), and dance in harmony with the poetry. Each character and movement would serve to demonstrate the life, thoughts, political views and educational ideals of Confucius.

Hau Wong’s Identity

No conclusion has been drawn on Hau Wong’s identity. According to Chan Pak-to, a scholar of Qing Dynasty, Hau Wong should be the Prince Marquis Yeung Leung-jit, who was a general known for his loyalty in the late Southern Song Dynasty. He was bestowed the title ‘Marquis’ when he was alive and ‘King’ upon his death. Since he courageously protected the last emperor of that dynasty, the temple was built to venerate him. Other scholars suggest that Hau Wong was a person named Yeung Hau, people called him 'King Yeung Hau', who had cured Emperor Bing, the last emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty. Nonetheless, the unidentified origin does not undermine adherents’ devoutness to Hau Wong.

Different Birthdays

In Hong Kong, there are three birthdays for Hau Wong, namely, 6th day, 16th day of the 6th Lunar month, and the 18th day of the 8th Lunar month. The celebrations for Hau Wong’s Birthday in Tung Chung are of the largest scale for Hau Wong’s Birthday. According to the local elders, the birthday was on the 6th of the 6th Lunar month in the early years, however, farmers were normally busy with planting rice during that period, so the festival was rescheduled and became a five-day celebration after the Mid-Autumn Festival. During the festival, live Chinese operas and dramas for deities were performed free of charge for the residents in the neighborhood. Dinner gatherings and auctions for holy relics were also arranged. This heated festival had become an important celebration which connected residents from both the sea and inland in Tung Chung.

Auctions for Flower Cannon

Opposite to the Hau Wong temple was a large theatre shed for the deities and villagers to enjoy Cantonese operas. The area in front of the stage could accommodate one thousand people. Dozens of small sheds were also built on both sides of the stage for members of Flower Cannon Associations to take rest. At 1pm on the fourth day, all associations gathered in the sheds to bid for floral tributes. The stand-in Hau Wong statue was invited from the Hau Wong temple by members of Tung Chung Rural Committee to ‘monitor’ the process.

There were 22 tributes in total for the bidders with the highest prices. The ‘first tribute’ and the ‘second tribute’ ‘auxiliary first tribute’? were the most popular ones. This unique redistribution approach was different from ‘fighting for the tributes’ or ‘lucky draws’ in all the other places in Hong Kong. The associations that obtained the tributes (that is, the deity statues) could keep them for a year and then return in the following year for another auction.

The legend of the fire dragon dance

Tai Hang was once a Hakka village. The tale goes that a serpent attacked the village after a typhoon in 1880 and was killed by the villagers after a typhoon hit in 1880. At that night, the villagers took the body of the serpent to the police station, but it disappeared next morning. After that, a plague spread and claimed the lives of many young villagers, which made the villagers panic. An elder in the village had a prophetic dream telling him that the plague could be driven away if the villagers made a dragon out of straw and incense sticks and paraded it around the village while lighting fire crackers, and so the villagers followed suit. The sulfur in the fire crackers and the smoke from the incenses were indeed able to drive away the disease. Since then, the Tai Hang residents perform the Fire Dragon Dance for blessings every year, and it has been practiced for more than a hundred years till now.

How to Make the Dragon

The body of Tai Hang fire dragon was 220 feet long, or 24 feet including head and rope. The body was divided into 32 straw stuffed segments. The dragon’s head was the most delicate part: baked willow wickers for the frame, paper for teeth, and torches for eyes. Each segment was controlled by a bamboo pole held by one dancer. Since more than 300 men were required to take turn, such performance has become an activity for the whole community’s participation.

Dragon Dance

At 7:00 pm on the first night, people from the Tai Hang Welfare Association went to the lotus temple and prayed to Kwun Yam. The chief commander of the fire dragon dance consecrated the straw dragon in Hakka and prays for peace, safety, and good fortune. Later on, the dragon was decorated and inserted with thousands of incenses sticks, so it is known as the “Fire Dragon.” After the praying ceremony, the Fire Dragon led by the dragon balls would leave the Wun Sha Street and paraded through the main streets in Tai Hang. The Fire Dragon looked amazingly beautiful surrounded by smokes and sparkles in the darkness at night.

At 9:15 pm, the staff removed the used incense sticks from the dragon and gave away the still burning incense sticks to the crowd to bring home. Then the dragon began to dance again through the streets. This time the dancers showed more fancy moves like “dragon circles with colorful lights”, “dragon crosses the bridge”, “dragon dances around two poles”, “dragon-twining makes pyramids”, etc. The event ended at 10:00 pm.

Meaning of the Custom

The fire-dragon dance is a celebration event that unite the whole community and promotes fraternity, but it is difficult to preserve this tradition partly because the dragon makers in the village are of old age with no successors, and there are not many young people in Tai Hang. Helpers from outside the community are thus needed. The Tai Hang Welfare Association is also considering breaking the tradition to include woman performers in the dance.

About Saint Yiu the Virgin

But who is Saint Yiu the Virgin? According to the stele ‘In Memorial of Yiu the Virgin of Luoyang’ (Luoyang town is located in the Huizhou City, Boluo prefecture in Guangdong) on the gate wall of the temple that the Yiu clan of Kiu Kong offered in 1979, during the reign of the Hongzhi Emperor of the Ming dynasty (A.D. 1487 – 1505), a 17-year-old girl from Yiu family in Jingjidu escaped away to a valley, when a gang of robber ransacked her village. Chased after by the gang, the girl climbed up to the top of the clip and jumped to her death for the integrity as a virgin. The Emperor heard about the story and was moved by Yiu so he rewarded her in name of ‘Lieniu’ (literally “a female martyr”) and recorded her behaviour to set a good example for the following generations. Subsequently, a Lieniu Temple was built up to pay homage to her and Yiu was known and worshipped as Saint Yiu the Virgin.

When the performance ended, a banquet of eight tables full of food and drinks was ready to treat everyone who comes. During the dinner, various sacred objects were sold by auction, which included red flower balls, gold necklaces, jade pendants, paper lanterns, models of sailboat, swords made up of coins. Each item was given auspicious names. For examples, a gold necklace was a ‘Peace Leash’, a sailboat model was a ‘Gold Sail in Tailwind’, a lantern was a ‘Light of Prosperity’ and a coin-made sword becames a ‘God Sword’. Reserve price was higher than the price in market, but because all the items were from the temple and convey positive meanings, the auction enjoyed good attendance and items were sold out at their highest prices. The auction had become the main source of income to organisers of the ceremony while helping to create a boisterous atmosphere for the festival.

The 5th Day of the 9th Month of the Lunar Calendar

It was in the 9th Lunar Month when New Territories villagers held ceremonies to honor their ancestors. On each day of the month, there were villagers gathering to hold the memorial ceremony around the graves on hillside. The ceremony carried out by the Tang Clan of Ping Shan area on the 5th day of the 9th lunar month was quite distinctive. They set stoves to cook and had meals in an open area, the so called ‘Hek Shan Tou’.

As time changes, most clans had abandoned the custom to save the trouble and the risk of causing a forest fire. They may now eat cooked food prepared beforehand or dine at restaurants afterwards. Some clans chose to cook in the ancestral halls so that their people could take the food away and ate it at home. All these changes had led to the gradual disappearance of the ‘Hek Shan Tou’ practice.

The Legend of Wah Kong

According to the legend, Wah Kong was the God of Fire who had three eyes under the Jade Emperor (Supreme Deity). There was once when people in the mortal world performed Chinese opera; the loud music of gongs and drums startled the Palace of Heaven. The angry Lord of Heaven ordered Wah Kong to descend to the mortal world and burn the stage. Upon arrival, Wah Kong found the tune and music so appealing that the deity was not callous enough to do it. To convince the Lord of Heaven that the stage had been destroyed, Wah Kong told the performing crew to burn incenses and joss paper so that the Lord of Heaven would misunderstand that the stage was burnt. Hence the performers escaped a destroying fire and Wah Kong had become the patriarch of the industry since then and was addressed respectfully as ‘Sin Si’ or ‘Sifu’ (literally: patriarch).

Ksitigarbha

Ksitigarbha, also called Earth Treasury Buddha, wa one of the four principal bodhisattvas(梵語) in Chinese Buddhism. It wa said that as told by Gautama Buddha, Ksitigarbha would not turn into a Buddha until the he emptied all beings in six realms and saved all those in misery before the nirvana of Gautama Buddha and the rise of Maitreya Buddha. Therefore, the Hok Lou people (people from Shanwei) address him as Ksitigarbha Buddha, but they usually worshipped this bodhisattva as the master ruling the hell based on the folk religion, hoping the deceased were relieved from their pain in hell.

Sau Mau Ping Resettlement Estate (kai liu)

Tsui Ping Road is previously the resettlement estate of Sau Mau Ping, commonly known as kai liu. In the late 1950s, Ksitigarbha was led to Hong Kong by a Hok Lou person surnamed Chan from his hometown in Huidong County, Shanwei prefecture, Guangdong. He settled the bodhisattva’s statue in a cave on the hillside. On 18th June 1972, a thunder storm struck Hong Kong, and the mud slides destroyed tens of wooden huts in the resettlement estate with a death toll of 71. But the cave in which the Ksitigarbha settled was not flooded by the slides. Considering it a sacred sign of Ksitigarbha, people proposed to the government to build a Ksitigarbha temple on the hillside. A temple was then established in 1976. The government also built a Sau Mau Ping Memorial Park at the disaster-hit area.

Apart from Ksitigarbha Buddha, some other deities rest in the Ksitigarbha Temple as well, including the City God and three Buddhist and Taoist patriarchs (Patriarch Chiu, Patriarch Lui Dongbin, Bodhidharma). The temple also houses memorial tablets of the Deity of Earth and some others, including the Sea Goddess of Lion Hill and other indigenous ancestors, all guarded by Tai Si Wong.

Saintly Emperor Kwan

Kwan Yu (Yun Chang), who was famous for his integrity and courage during the period of Three Kingdoms, was born in Xie County, Hedong (present day Yuncheng, Shanxi). He took the oath of a fraternity in the peach garden, which bound him with Lau Bei and Cheung Fei as sworn brothers, and resolved to re-establish the state of Shu Han. People of later ages built temples to commemorate and esteem him as a hero who was morally sound and straight. He was granted the title of “Saintly Emperor Kwan” by the Wanli Emperor in Ming Dynasty, and the public called him “Kwan Tai”. He was originally a military general and canonized as “Emperor Xie Tian”, therefore some of the Kwan Tai Temple were called “Mo Tai Temple” (Temple for the General) or “Xie Tian Temple”. Outside the gates of the Kwan Tai Temples in Shau Kei Wan and Sham Shui Po, one could see Emperor Kwan holding “Green Dragon Crescent Blade” and riding “Blood-Sweating Stallion”, which werethe two representative symbols of Emperor Kwan in the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

The 19th day of the 6th month of the Lunar Calendar

Traditionally there are four festivals related to Kwun Yam (Avalokite?vara Boddhisattva/Goddess of Mercy) on the 19th of the 2nd month, 19th of 6th month, 19th of 9th month and 19th of 11th month of the Lunar Calendar respectively. 19th of the 2nd Lunar Month is the birthday of Kwun Yam and most worshippers worship on this day. For those fishermen at Pak Sha Wan Village in Sai Kung, they celebrate the birthday of Kwun Yam on 19th of the 6th Lunar Month, the day on which Kwun Yam attained the Way. Comprised of the Jiao Taoist Tsiu ritual and celebration of birth, the festival lasted two days along with a five-day live Chinese operas and dramas performance for ghosts. Pak Sha Wan was the only place in Hong Kong where a shed would be built for the traditional opera performance to celebrate Kwun Yam’s birthday. The festive atmosphere was particularly strong here.

The Day of Kwun Yam attained the Tao (the saintly and godly status)

As a deity worshipped by Buddhists and Taoists alike, Kwun Yam had a wide range of worshippers. There is a Kwun Yam temple at Pak Sha Wan Village which is located by Sai Kung Highway. It has a history of nearly one hundred years and enjoys piety from residents both on land and on water. Why villagers of the early years chose to celebrate Kwun Yam’s birthday on the day when she attained the Tao (the saintly and godly status) ? There are two possible reasons: first, there was only a short interval between the birthday of Kwun Yam on 19th of the 2nd Lunar Month and the Lunar New Year. Fishermen found it financially difficult to hold another festival right after it; secondly, the 6th Lunar Month was a typhoon season, when fishermen would return from the sea and rest in Sai Kung, leaving them a free time to organize the event. Proposal of celebrating Kwun Yam’s birthday on 19th of the 9th Lunar Month to avoid engagement with bad weather during the summer season was once made but rejected as no positive answer was given when villagers tried to seek approval from deities.

The Ceremony of Kuo Kwan (literally: ‘passing the gate’)

“Kuo Kwan” was a custom prevalent among the boat people, which had the most participants and children are actively involved. Villagers believed that children who had gone through this ceremony will be smart, good at study and grow up healthily. During the ceremony, participants followed instructions of the Taoist priests to line up in front of the “gate of barrier”, each holding incense sticks. A priest would then throw divination blocks for everyone to request indications from god. Then he spoke to another priest who played the role of a gate-guarding general and the conversation between them reveals to participants the benefits brought by the ceremony. Then he led the villagers to march one by one through a curtain with a figure of devil, during which the villagers also needed to step over the burning ritual paper money on the ground. Participants needed to line up again to do the same thing for another four times to finish the entire ceremony. The five times of the ritual represented the five orientations of metal, wood, water, fire and earth.

The Cremation of Tai See Wong

The climax of the tsiu ritual was the cremation of Tai See Wong. Ritual committee members carried the statue of Tai See Wong to the beach at the wharf beside the road. Ritual paper money and candles were placed in front of the statue. Fire would be lit after the Taoist priests finished chanting. Tai See Wong was responsible for supervision and controlling of the wandering spirits and ghosts, the burning of whom signifies the departure of spirits and ghosts under Tai Si Wong’s lead, thus resuming the “purity” among the community. At about eleven o’clock at night, committee members assembled at the Kwun Yam temple to burn incense and offer their worship. By now the tsiu ritual had come to an end and the birthday celebration began.

Returning Cannons and Celebrating the Birthday

On the morning of 19th of the 6th Lunar Month, villagers came to return cannons (deity images without flower-cannon). Lion dance troupes also came and offered incense. Worshippers brought such offerings as roast pigs, red eggs, raw giner and Kwun Yam costumes for worshipping at the temple. A total of 33 Kwun Yam statues returned by worshippers were put into glass shrines and placed in the flower cannon shed in a proper order. In the afternoon, the person in charge from the committee together with guests held a lottery of flower cannons upon the completion of three auspicious Chinese Opera shows. Nowadays, people who bought more tickets had a better chance of winning, which greatly reduced the competiveness and the atmosphere was less dense than the event of grabbing the flower-cannons.

Sworn Brothers

The Kwan Tai Temple in Shau Kei Wan is located on the hillside of Ngoi Man Street, where six temples are located there for worshipping other deities including Fok Tak, Hung Shing, Kwun Yam, Lau Bei and Cheung Fei. It is the only place where the three sworn brothers – Lau, Kwan, Cheung - can be worshipped at the same time. Among the birthdays of the six deities, only on Kwan Tai’s Birthday (24th of the 6th Lunar Month) and Cheung Fei’s Birthday (19th of the 12th Lunar Month) that the parades would be initiated.

Celebration Activities

At 10:30am on the Kwan Tai’s Birthday, residents of Shau Kei Wan assembled at the fish market in front of Tam Kung Temple. Accompanied by two dancing lions, they pushed the shrine with Kwan Tai statue and paraded through the Eastern Street in Shau Kei Wan. Blessing was given to the shops they knew well (donation was given usually). They then paraded through the streets including Kam Wah Street, Mong Lung Street, Factory Street, Nam On Street, Nam On Lane and Shau Kei Wan Road, they finally arrived Ngoi Man Street, where they moved the statue from the portable shrine, and carried it up the hill along with sacrifices like roast pig.

There are three temples for worshipping Saint Yiu in Hong Kong now. The other two, the Shing Nui Kung on Ha Fa Shan, Tsuen Wan and the Saint Yiu Temple in Yau Tam Mei Village, Yuen Lung, are also built by believers. These two temples also have ceremonies on the 16th day of the 10th lunar month, but are not in the same scale as it is in Fu Yung Shan. The 16th day of the 6th lunar month is the date of Saint Yiu’s death and villagers come and pay their homage as well.

The Birthday Celebration at Fragrant-Flower Hill

On the birthday of Wah Kong every year, the Chinese Artists Association of Hong Kong performed only two plays, namely The Birthday Celebration at Fragrant-Flower Hill and The Fairy’s Baby. The former was not always performed as it involved a good number of performers, including civil and martial roles, young male roles, female roles, clowns and other martial roles. But at the same time it provided a good chance to show the solidaritiy of the performers. There were totally around sixty to seventy characters including the Eight Divinities, the Eight Fairies, the Four Dragon Kings, the Three Goddess Saints, Kwun Yam, the Monkey King, the Big-head Buddha, Arhat Hong Lung, Arhat Fuk Fu, Protector Skanda, etc. This grand performance was meant to show their respect to Patriarch Wah Kong, the practice of which familiarized the performing crew with the play so that both the play and the spirit ccould be passed on to the following generations.

The story of The Birthday Celebration at Fragrant-Flower Hill was derived from a legendary Kwun Yam play of the Qing Dynasty, The Fragrant-Flower Hill. It was a typical play performed on celebrating occasions. The entire play lasted for five hours, with the first half telling the story of Kwun Yam since birth to the day when the Truth was understood得道. The second half was about all the deities and fairies celebrating Kwun Yam’s birthday. On Wah Kong’s birthday celebration, the Association performed the second half only and it took nearly two hours. The climax of the show was the scene Kwun Yam’ s Eighteen Transformations: after greeted by all deities and fairies, Kwun Yam performed magic as requested and transformed into a dragon, a tiger, a general, a minister, a fisherman, a woodman, a farmer and a scholar, showing various martial art steps and Cantonese opera sceneries.

The Disappearance of Ritual

During the memorial ceremony in the old days, a number of Wai Sun Tong’s elders would be the master of ceremony and some would play music. The elderly attended the ceremony wearing robes to show proper respect for the occasion. But these traditions are already gone with the older generations and only the custom of ‘Hek Shan Tou’ is preserved. As seen in the field, people who came to the ceremony were mostly women, children and men who have well passed their youth, hoping to receive blessings from their ancestor. They had neither joined the session of sacrificing live pigs in the morning, nor did they come at a particular time. Most of them arrived at around eleven o’clock in the morning and started awaiting the serve of Poon Choi (food contained in poons) (basin containing food) after individual worship.

Master Lu Pan

Legends had it that Master Lu Pan was originally named “Goshu Ban”, and was born in the Kingdom of Lu (now Shandong) in the Spring and Autumn Period. He was a craftsman extraordinaire that he had invented many tools and established various laws of construction, hence people in the construction industry revered him as the Ancestral Master. He was particularly respected by three trades (in the past it meant carpentry, the trade of plastering and masonry), and later those in the trade of bamboo scaffolding, painting, brick and tile, and bar bending also revered him as “the Master”.

Lu Pan Temple in Sai Wan

Lu Pan Temple, located in Ching Lin Terrace, Sai Wan, was funded and built by a group of construction workers in 1884 (10th year in the reign of Emperor Guangxu of Qing Dynasty) to seek for the blessings of Master Lu Pan for safety at work. The temple was unique in its architecture and styling. Both interior and exterior were decorated by delicate murals and clay sculptures, demonstrating the highly skilled techniques. It was a two-hall structure with two ridges, each ridge was adorned by ceramic figurines from Shek Wan. The gable walls on both sides were of “Five Famous Mountains Paying Tribute to Heaven” style, Sun and Moon Gods could be found standing in the front of the verticle ridges.

Lu Pan Temple is now managed by Kwong Yuet Tong of Hong Kong. The statue of Master Lu Pan is donning official robes (he was posthumously given an official title), and in the front are the statues of his two disciples, each carrying the carpenter's straight line marker and the carpenter’s square – both according to legends were invented by Lu Pan. They serve as symbols warning the posterity to act “according to rule and stay within bounds”.

History

According to historical records of Song dynasty (10th – 13th century C.E.), the tradition of Deliverance Service for All in Water and Land started during the reign of the Emperor Wu of Liang ( 502-549 C.E.). It is said that the emperor dreamt a sagely monk, who suggested him that, “regarding the endless sufferings of the four modes and the six realms (or six gati) of rebirth, why don’t you organise an assembly to deliver all the beings in water and land from that?” The next day, he consulted his civil and military officials about the dream but none of them could interpret it. A monk named Bao Zhi advised to turn to Buddhist scriptures. The emperor agreed and recruited a number of monks from India to study the Tripitaka, i.e. the entire volume of Buddhist Canon. Three years later, the formulation of a ritual guideline for deliverance services was accomplished. Soon after that, a Water-and-Land Aid was held at Jinshan Temple for universal confession and deliverance and the rite had become a prevailing religious culture during the Song dynasty.

Significance of the Deliverance Service

The temple at Ngong Ping was founded by three monks from Jiangsu Province in 1906 and was officially named ‘Po Lin Monastery’ in 1924. The 7-day Deliverance Service for All in Water and Land was held here from the 12th to 19th of the eleventh lunar month every year. In addition to free meals, the monastery invited monks to chant and deliver all beings in water and land from the sufferings of the four modes and the six directions of rebirth, and at the same time, they also prayed for individual health, social property and peace of the world.

The Service being a mass rite that the involved repentance was significant not only in religious terms but also in the secular term. Believers took the chance to pray for their relatives and ancestors with gratitude for the legacy they left to today. On the first day of the Deliverance Service, delegates from national department of religious affairs, legislators, officials and Buddhist institutions were all invited to the opening ceremony at the Po Lin Hall. The guests were shown thecharity achievements made by the monastery in the past years and updated the construction project of the Ten Thousand Buddha’s Hall.

The Escort

The climax came with the Escort on the closing day in order to send the welcomed sages respectfully to depart. At noon of the last service day, a line of monks who were chanting in the Tai Hung Po Din (the main hall for worship), stepped down from the hall with patakas (flags or streamers) in hand and headed towards the Circular Mound Altar in front of the Tian Tan Buddha. Upon reaching the Altar, the monks started burning paper-maches including horses in five colours and Prajna’s boats (or, boats of wisdom) as well as offerings, the statue of Tai Shi, the transcripts of prayer, and tablets for the sages, which means sending the sages up to the devaloka, or the heaven. While the monks were performing the Escort, others let free different animals living in sky, land and water. When all rituals were completed, the 7-day assembly ended by fulfilling its merits and virtues successfully.

Moreover, it is noted that the altars were more formal and strict in decoration than regular worship sites. The statue of Buddha was set in the centre of the interior altar and various offerings like fruits, flowers, candles and joss sticks fill the altar table. The walls of both sides were covered by the portraits of Buddha and sages which were especially intended for the occasion, meaning that the attendance of all sages have been solicited.

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”.

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.

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.

Who is Hung Shing? A common folklore in Hong Kong pointed to Hung Shing as an actual person named Hung Hei, who was the Provincial Governor of Panyu County of Tang Dynasty. He was an upright official and a scholar of astronomy, geography and mathematics. He founded an observatory to forecast the weather which benefited fishermen and merchants at sea. He died early from over-exertion, and to honour his contributions, the imperial emperor gave him the title “Kwong Li Hung Shing Tai Wong of the South Seas”.

The ethnographers on the Mainland have another story. They believe that Hung Shing is the deity of the South Seas, who is also known in Cantonese folklore as Zhurong, the God of Fire. A Nankai Temple in Guangzhou, which was built in Sui Dynasty, enshrines the deity of South Seas. Down the ages, the imperial emperors continued to heap title upon title upon the deity, for example “Kwong Li Wong”, “Hung Shing”, etc. The deity became known in folklore as “Kwong Li Hung Shing Tai Wong”. Nevertheless, Hung Shing is recognized as the God of Water, because all Hung Shing Temples found in Hong Kong were originally located near rivers or by the sea.

On the morning of the festival, the villagers of Ho Sheung Heung attend a worshipping ceremony at the Hung Shing Temple. The opera artists perform such opera titles as “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》), to offer greeting to deities. Later lion and dragon dance teams arrive and offer performances, driving the event to its peak. The climax of the activity is the Floral Tribute Scrambling, which is one of the few similar traditional activities remaining in Southern China.

Floral tribute Scrambling

At 1 pm, the representatives of different lion dance or floral tribute societies gather at the open area in front of the temple, at the centre of which a tribute scaffolding is placed. As the person-in-charge lights the fuse, a bamboo tube, representing the floral tribute, is launched into the air, and all villagers scramble to grab the tube. The next year, the tribute is returned together with such gifts as roasted suckling pig, lantern, tribute silver and fragrant oil. The event launches 7 Paper floral tributes each year and each tribute has an auspicious names. Those who scrambled for the Floral Tributes believe that it would bring good luck.

The scrambling of the first few Floral Tributes are the most vigorous. Later, with some of the organizations already scored, there are fewer competitors. This is why the first Floral Tribute is seen as the most significant and the items and cash that are returned with this tribute are the richest. Even those in the same village would scramble and even quarrel over the tribute, if they belong to different tribute societies.

The simplification of Floral Tributes

The floral tribute scrambling activity held during the Hung Shing Festival aims to distribute the floral tributes – representing the deities – to the groups who worship these deities. The traditional floral tribute is a decorative construction made from paper and bamboo strips. It is 20-feet high construction with statues or spirit tablets at the centre, surrounded by auspicious decorations. The floral tribute of Ho Sheung Heung was simplified as a “tribute mirror”, on which the words “Hung Shing Temple of Ho Sheung Heung” are written. No other decorations adorn the tribute to facilitate storage.

25th of the 2nd month of the Lunar Calendar

Most residents of Hong Kong migrated from the Mainland, and some even introduced the deities and beliefs from their ancestral home. The Three Mountain Kings are one of them. Currently about 6 temples in Hong Kong enshrine the Three Mountain Kings, with the Three Mountain Kings Temple at Ping Shek of Ngau Chi Wan enjoying the longest history. The Three Mountain King’s Festival on 25th of the 2nd Lunar Month attracts many members of the community to attend the god worshipping festival. A small bamboo-shed theatre is built outside the temple with 4 days of performances to entertain both men and deity.

Who are the Three Mountain Kings? The legends are many, but one of the more common stories goes like this: They were the three generals serving under Yang Jian, Emperor Wen of Sui Dynasty. They were named Lian Qinghua, Zhao Zhuzheng, and Qiao Huiwei, and were sworn brothers. Because of their many battle achievements, they were worshipped after death. In Song Dynasty, these three generals appeared as apparitions in Chao Zhou and helped the Emperor of Song Dynasty beat his enemies (there were different versions as to which Emperor it was). When the Emperor tried to thank them, they were disappeared; only three mountains were visible in the distance. The Emperor believed that they were incarnates of the Mountain Gods, and as such gave them the title “The Three Mountain Kings”. The three mountains were Du Mountain, Ming Mountain and Jin Mountain of Raoping County of Chao Zhou. 

The Hakkas were the first one who to bring this belief to Hong Kong from Chaozhou. They built a temple in Ngau Chi Wan Village in around the 18th Century, which enshrined only one of the kings (Rumour has it that it was the “Third King”). The temple was visited and worshipped by the communities of different origins nearby, and are still popular among believers today.

Ceremonies of the festival

The temple used to be the gathering site for 13 villages in Kowloon. It is now independently managed by the Ngau Chi Wan Village. On 23rd to 26th of February each year, the Three Mountain Kings Temple Committee hires Cantonese opera troupes to perform god-worshipping plays lasting 4 nights and 3 days. Because of space constraints, the theatre can only be built at the open area beside the temple instead of facing directly the deities in the temple. A small shrine is therefore built on top of the audience stand upon which the statue of the “Third King” is placed. Incense offerings have to be kept throughout the performance in the shrine just as in the temple, to indicate reverence.

At 12 noon on the day of festival, the president of Three Mountain Kings Temple Committee, together with all committee members, offers incense and offerings to the deities, and chants invocations according to tradition. The invocation praises the gods as “Kings that command eternal respect” who “guards the people against evil”. It is apparent that the believers see the Three Mountain Kings as guardians.

After the ceremony, the members of the opera troupe enter 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》), symbolizing blessings of good fortune, plentiful offspring and longevity. A senior committee member then casts divination blocks for each of the member, and uses the number of times that a sheng-bei (one block facing upwards, one facing downwards) is obtained to decide the candidate for the president and vice-president of the upcoming year. This method of election carries a more religious overtone than simple mutual voting.

Bringing the neighbourhood together

As the older generation passes on, the Three Mountain Kings Festival becomes less boisterous, and the Floral Tribute activities have faded out. But many residents of Ngau Chi Wan still come to offer incense and watch the God-worshipping plays. Even those that have moved out of the community would come back to worship the gods and gather with their family and friends. On the evening of the festival, some 30 tables were set in the open area behind the temple (with head and last tables), and chefs are hired to prepare on site a feast that the community would all enjoy. Given the space restrictions, many believers are unable to procure a seat, and for a time the banquet took the location of a restaurant. But the atmosphere was less rich than that in the vicinity of a temple.

Insects awakening (5th, 6th or 7th day of the 3rd month of the Lunar Calendar)

“Villain beating” is a local custom that has rapidly gained popularity in recent years. The area beneath the Canal Road Flyover at Wanchai is a hotspot for the custom, with “villain beaters” – usually old ladies – stationed here all year round. Business is particularly thriving on the Insects Awakening Day. The location underneath the flyover is considered a place of abundant yin energy, and is an ideal place for villain beating. On the Insect Awakening day, besides the curb of Hennessy Road, altars were also placed along Canal Road West (Most worshipping Guan Yam, with some worshipping the Monkey King). There were a total of some 30 altars surrounded by crowds of believers looking to use the villain beating service. The sounds of shoes rising and falling created a unique clamour in the area.

Insects Awakening

“Insects awakeingn” is one of the 24 solar terms of China. It is designated as the 5th, 6th or 7th day of the 3rd Lunar Month. This is the peak season for infectious diseases with the fluctuating temperatures; the SARS pandemic in 2003 and the fatal flu epidemic in 2008 also broke out during this period. Guangdong folklore believes that lurking creatures are awoken by the spring thunders on this day. All manners of snake, insects and mice, together with “villains”, come out for food and activity, to harm humans, livestock and crops. This is why they find it necessary to “feed the white tiger” and “beat the villain”. The White Tiger is a star of ill omen, which also keeps the evil in check. Traditionally, blubber is used as offering to feed the white tiger so it does not bite anyone. Today, worshipping the white tiger has become a secondary activity, since villain beating becomes the major event.

What is a “Villain”

“Villains” may refer to actual persons who sow discord or foment dissension; the term can also be a metaphor for ill luck or bad omen. Traditionally, when “villains” get close, “Gui Ren” (literally, auspicious persons) distant themselves. If villains cannot be avoided, they should be “resolved” so that their ill effects do not linger. Thus villain beating serves the due purpose of driving away ill luck and welcoming good fortune. If one encounters career hiccups, or has become an object of spite, or has an outstanding loan, or is inflicted by ailments, or whose lover is involved in affair, one would resort to “villain beating” in hopes of seeing a better change.

The procedures of “Villain Beating”

The practice of each beater is slightly different, but most would ask the name of the client and the particular objective of beating. Afterwards, a piece of “villain paper” was placed on a brick; an old shoe (high heels or slippers are also usable) was used to beat on the piece of paperwhile chanting such words as, “villain, be silent and leave my client”, “good fortune follows villain beating”, and so on. Some villain beaters used a stick of incense to burn through the “villain paper” before beating, while others chopped it into pieces using knives.

After the beating, the villain beater swept “auspicious persons” placards over the customer, symbolizing the summoning of auspicious persons. Then she picked up a paper tiger and wiped it on a piece of blubber, symbolizing the feeding of the white tiger. The paper tiger was then burnt together with the auspicious persons placard, followed by the scattering of rice and green beans on the ground, to exorcise the “villain”. After performing the designated tasks, some villain beaters would cast divination blocks to forecast the future. If one block faced down and the other up, this indicates that the deities have heard the requests of the client; otherwise the blocks would be recasted after praying.

“Villain Beating” Hotspots

On the Insects Awakening Day, public engaged in “villain beating” can be seen in other old districts, for example the crossroads at Tai Ping Shan Street. Some temples also provide such service for believers. Extensive media coverage of the practice at Canal Road Flyover has turned it into a hotspot for “villain beating”. Many believers visit the place waiting for their turn, and media, the public and tourists also come to take photographs, turning the villain beaters into “performers” under limelight.

Public mindset

Although Hong Kong is a developed society, the custom of “villain beating” continues and becomes increasingly popular. Men and women make use of the service, many of whom are in their youth. Why do they pay (the current asking price at Canal Road Flyover is 50 Hong Kong dollars) the villain beater to perform the rite? What troubles do they expect to dispel? It is worth the further investigation by cultural researchers. Though some do question the actual effectiveness of “villain beating”, the chance for one to vent their discontent is believed to be psychologically therapeutic.

26th of the 1st Month of the Lunar Calendar

While many folk beliefs in Hong Kong originate from the Mainland China, the “Kwun Yum Treasury Opening Festival” is a local custom. It was said that the custom originated from Kwun Yum Tong on Tai Ping Shan Street in Sheung Wan. This custom has evolved through the years such that today almost all temples that houses a shrine of Kwun Yum – also known as the Guanyin Bodhisattva – would organize the event (Examples include the Kwan Yin Fo Tong beside the Man Mo Temple at Sheung Wan and the Tin Hau Temple at Shau Kei Wan). Believers can secure “loans” from Kwun Yum through making an incense offering and a lucky draw of red paper (bearing the amount), in hopes of raising their income in the upcoming year. In a commercial society where making a fortune is paramount, this ritual of foretelling one’s fortune is rather popular among believers.

The Kwun Yum Tong of Tai Ping Shan Street was rebuilt in 1895 during the Guangxu Era of Qing Dynasty. Tang Kei-tsun, the fifth generation successor of the establishment, said the temple was built long before Hong Kong became an open port. The temple is the first Kwun Yum Temple of the Hong Kong Island, and was later moved to its present address. Because of its antiquity, it is difficult to trace the beginnings of the Kwun Yum Treasury Opening Festival, or the reason why the custom is set on the 26th of the 1st month of the lunar calendar. One only knows that the people of those days, seeing that many children did not have the money to attend school, followed a Kwun Yum-related folklore to collect donations from worshippers to help children in need.

The story is named “the Dutiful son building the bridge of Luo Yang”. It tells of how a pregnant woman riding a boat was caught in a storm and encountered great danger. She promised Kwun Yum that if she were to successfully escape the peril and give birth to a son, her son would build a bridge for public benefit after he grew up. The pregnant woman arrived safely ashore. Years later, her son, Cai Zhongxing, after excelling in the imperial examination, wished to fulfill his mother’s wish. Nevetheless, as an honest official, he had no means to do so. The goddess Kwun Yum was moved by his filial piety and descended to earth transformed as a beautiful lady. She sat on Cai’s boat, and set out a challenge for all men: if any man could successfully strike her with a silver ingot, she would marry him. Crowds of men from all over casted silver ingots at her, but none could hit her but piled on the boat. The son collected all the ingots and successfully built the Luoyang Bridge.

The custom of the Kwun Yum Treasury Opening Festival

From this story the Kwun Yum Treasury Opening Festival was born. The treasury is open on 11pm of the 26th of the 1st Lunar month every year. On 25th, crowds of believers queued up outside the temples at different districts hoping to offer the first incense. The scene was most boisterous at the Kwun Yum Temple in Hung Hom, probably because the amount on loan was the largest, involving hundreds of millions of dollars. This enabled many to “fulfill” their wishes. Kwun Yum Tong at Tai Ping Shan Street, however, did not provide monetary amounts in their paper lottery, but instead offered red pockets on which auspicious wordings were written. Tang Kei-tsun believes that the Kwun Yum Temple is neither a bank nor a financial company, and should not provide large “sums” of loans.

The event continued up until the evening of 26th, when believers continued to pray in temples and offer incense. Besides making donations, they also purchased all manners of auspicious tokens, including treasure bags, paper money, paper safes, house guarding spells, gold and silver ingots, Kwun Yum gold platelets and auspicious flags, bringing considerable income to the temple.

Folk belief

The custom has transformed into a folk activity unique to Hong Kong. Its perpetuation is because , some say, those who secured loans from Kwun Yum’s treasury have to return them at year end or at the beginning of next year before they can secure further loans. This keeps believers returning for more. Those who wish to obtain loans come from all walks of society, with owners of small and medium enterprises, real estate agents and tour guides; some even wish to make loans for purchasing a property.

Kwun Yum is a deity that transgresses the borders between Buddhism, Taoism and folk beliefs. The “loaning” activity, however, remains only a folk activity. No relevant information is recorded in Buddhist or Taoist canons, and therefore Buddhist and Taoist temples do not hold such events.

The purpose of the lantern lighting

The birth of male offspring is an important occasion for rural dwellers. Male offspring implies the continuation of family lineage as well as the obtaining of birthright – the clansman identity and claim over the ancestors’ inheritance. The lantern lighting ceremony is a de facto “registration” of the male child on the family genealogy, implying that he is now formally a member of the clan or the village. Even if the whole family has migrated overseas, in case of male newborn, the family would come back during the Lunar New Year to join the lantern lighting festival to establish the identity of the new member.

As the birthrate of the society drops, some villages would cancel the year’s lantern lighting ceremony. For example, in the case of Tang Clan in Kam Tin, if only one or three male offspring are born in a family in a particular year, the lighting ceremony would be cancelled for the reason that single or triple male offspring is a bad omen.

Lantern Lighting Ceremony in Kam Tin

The lantern lighting ceremony was held at the ancestral hall. The most boisterous of such occasions was held at the Tang Ching Lok Ancestral Hall and the Tan Chan Yui Kuen Ancestral Hall. The former hall belonged to the eldest son; the latter belonged to the other three sons. The family blessed by the birth of male offspring had to pick a date to light the lantern at their own ancestral hall by putting the wick dish into the large festival lantern. On the 15th day of the 1st month, each family would bring their own cooked dishes and congee to the ancestral hall to worship their ancestors, followed immediately by a feast in the hall to treat their family. The ritual was much like a First Month Celebration banquet.

Hung Shing Festival at Kam Tin

Hung Shing Festival is usually held on the 13th of the 2nd month of the Lunar Calendar. At Kam Tin, however, this festival is held on the 15th of the 1st month – the same day as the lantern congee feast. On that day, an ad hoc stage would be built in front of the Hung Shing Temple at Shui Tau Tsuen. While the clansmen were enjoying the lantern congee feast, the Paper Floral Tribute Societies (Fa Pau Wui) arrived with roast suckling pigs and paper floral tributes. Artists and singers would sing on stage, with paper floral tribute lucky draw as the climax activity.

There were in total twelve Paper Floral Tributes. With the exception of the ninth one which was kept by the Hung Shing Temple, the rest were redistributed through lucky draw. Although firecrackers and use of gunpowder to fire tributes are now banned, lion dance and song performances before the lucky draw provide villagers some great entertainments.

The First Incense Offering at Wong Tai Sin Temple

Though priority should not matter in paying homage to the temple gods, many believers believe that the offering of the First Incense is a gesture of sincerity. It is a thanksgiving for the blessings of the gods in the past years, as well as a prayer for the blessings in the upcoming year. According to the Chinese astrology, 11pm to 1am at night are the beginning hours of a day, and large crowds of believers queued up outside the Wong Tai Sin Temple at Lunar New Year’s Eve for the opportunity to offer the First Incense at 11pm or midnight. Although Sik Sik Yuen has repeatedly stressed that the first incense offered any time during the Lunar New Year is a “First Incense Offering”, the believers remain faithful to this tradition.

From Lunar New Year’s Eve to the New Year’s Day, the crowds at Wong Tai Sin persist, so much that the staff at Sik Sik Yuen and the police force had to maintain order. The Temple has four incense offering locations including Fuk Tak Temple, Main Altar, Three Saints Hall, and Yue Heung Shrine. Believers were required to walk in one direction, and although each believer was allowed to bring three sticks of incense, as they reached the Main Altar the overpowering smoke drew tears from everyone’s eyes.

Believers who entered the Che Kung Temple were not allowed to bring offerings. They could only bring three sticks of incense and clothing for Che Kung. Most entered the temple to do three things: giving incense offerings, spinning the windmill, and sounding the drum; some also asked for lottery poetries which might tell their fortune in the upcoming year. A variety of provisional stores were open outside the temple selling a diversity of worshipping items. The most popular item was certainly the pinwheels, which were sold at under hundred to several hundred dollars. Many believers brought home a pinwheel in hopes that it would “spin” their luck.

The origin of “Hung Chiu”

The Chinese character “Hung” (洪) has the meaning of “disaster” – pandemics, diseases, natural disasters and wars, while the character “Chiu” (朝) has the meaning of “worship”. Therefore “Hung Chiu” means their pray for the gods’ blessings to ensure the safety of inhabitants and livestock. Today, the villagers are no longer threatened by the disasters and no longer rear livestock, but to show respect to their roots they continue to hold the ceremony every year, praying for good weather and proliferation of descendants instead. 

Before holding the ceremony, the villagers of Fanling Wai first went to Sam Shing Temple and carried the shrines of Bak Dai (Deity of the North), Man Cheung Dai (Deity of Literacy) and Kwan Dai (Deity of War) to the makeshift altar at the gate of the walled village. The entire Tai Ping Hung Chiu ceremony w as overseen by a Taoist priest, who guided eightceremonial leaders to pray for the dispelling of disaster and the giving of blessings on behalf of all villagers.

Rooster Feather Scrambling and Paper Boat Firing

At around 10 am on the 15th of the 1st month of the Lunar Calendar, the villagers took one rooster to an elevated location at the gate of the walled village, plucked its feathers and dropped them through a circular opening, which is fought over by the clansman. Everyone could fetch one as the feathers dropped were abundant. They brought the feathers back home, and as the ceremonial leaders passed by their home carrying a paper boat, the villagers casted out the “unclean” matter (charcoal bits, red bean and hyacinth beans), together with paper ingots, joss sticks and candles into the boat. Meanwhile, a “new year boy” wearing ceremonial costume (red headdress and battle garb) followed the ceremonial masters to greet all households. Lastly, the villagers burnt the paper boat with everything in it – this is known as “Paper Boat Firing”, which symbolizes the dispelling of disaster and the welcoming of fortune.

Appeasing evil spirits

The ceremony reached another climax in the evening. Outside the gate of the walled village a lantern festival evening party was held; on another side the Taoist priest presided over the altar; recited and burnt wordings of blessing, appeased evil spirits and dispelled disaster, delivered offerings until after midnight. In some of the rituals, the Taoist priest changed into ceremonial garb and blew the horn symbolizing that he has obtained the prowess of the deities and is able to ward off the evils.

Casting divination blocks

On the morning of the 16th of the 1st month, the ceremonial leaders held a ceremony to cast the divination blocks. The divination blocks come in three pairs each representing men, right and wrong, and the six animals, and predicts the fortune of the future year. A unique casting method was used in Fanling Wai: one ceremonial master held the Hu Ban, a ceremonial tablet, on which a pair of small divination blocks (one face-down, one face-up), a pair of large divination blocks (both face-down), and a pair of raw pig’s feet (both face-up) are placed. The lot is casted backwards. If upon landing the items are arranged as originally placed, it symbolizes safety and harmony for both men and livestock; if the items are arranged otherwise, a re-casting is needed. The custom reminds one of the farming societies in the old days.

Sha Luo splitting

At 10 in the morning, the Taoist priest again changed into the ceremonial costume to conduct the ritual of “Sha Luo splitting”. The “Sha Luo” is a blown-up pig’s testicle (symbolizing ‘unclean’ matters). The Taoist priest chanted as he kicked the “Sha Luo” in all directions, while casting such items as rooster’s feathers, charcoal and beans. He then used an axe to split the “Sha Luo”, representing the dispelling of ill luck. Finally, the ceremonial master retrieved the colored paper and other auspicious items and cremates the lantern and the “red scrolls”, then returned the shrines of the deities to the Sam Shing Temple. This marked the end of the two-day Tai Ping Hung Chiu ceremony.