Cheung Chau Da Jiu Festival is a traditional Chinese festival which will be held from 11 to 15 May 2016. Every year, thousands of Hong Kong people go to Cheung Chau to celebrate this festival with the local villagers.
One story of the origin of this festival is that Cheung Chau was affected by plague in 18th century. A lot of people were sick and some of them were dead. One day, some local fishermen prayed to the god Pak Tai for their health and peace. They started to be vegetarians for three days and did some ceremonies in the Temple. Luckily, the plague was disappeared and the villagers recovered. In order to thank to the God, every year of the 8th days of the fourth month of the lunar calendar, the villagers organize a week of thanksgiving which includes Cheung Chau Bun Festival and Parade of Floats. Most villagers go vegetarian on three days. Most famous sea food restaurants design some special dishes to support this tradition. The local Macdonald’s provides veggie burgers with mushrooms.
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The high light of the festival is Parade of Floats. Young children who are age from 5 to 8 dressed as traditional or modern heroes such as Pak Tai, Tin Hau, God of water. They are standing on steel frames and keep balance on poles for several hours. . Their performances are like “Flying –in-the –air”. The dramatic parade is accompanied by musicians loudly beating gongs and drums to scare away evil spirits.
At night, the centerpiece of the festival is “The Bun Scrambling Competition” near Pak Tai Temple. Three giant 60-feet bamboo towers covered with plastics buns are placed there. Competitors climb up to the tower to get the bun as much as they can. Traditional speaking, the higher level of buns is supposed to bring better fortune to the family .Therefore, all the competitors always race up to the top first to collect the buns which has higher scour value. The contest lasts for 3 minutes.
Photos from: lifestyle.etnet.com.hk
Ms. Frankie Lai