ENGLISH
SHARE THIS ARTICLE
The Cheung Chau Bun Festival
Although Hong Kong is generally associated with skyscrapers, glamorous shopping and, for visitors, action-packed stop-overs, its cultural and historical richness is highlighted in a series of traditional festivals staged in the city and on many of its 230 outlying islands.
|
The Cheung Chau Bun Festival is one of the four most important events of the series;
For more than 22,000 residents of Cheung Chau, the fourth month of the lunar calendar sees the annual celebration of the popular carnival. According to folklore, the carnival began in the late 19th century when a plague besieged the island and took numerous lives. |
Locals hired priests to placate the wandering spirits of dead islanders in front of Temple of Pak Tai, the Taoist God of the Sea, while parading the deity’s statue along Cheung Chau’s narrow streets. The plague ceased subsequently, and Pak Tai rose to be a spiritual hero that has been worshipped annually on the island ever since.
|
 |
The most colourful event of the week however, is the procession. This year the festival will take place from April 30 to May 4, 2017. |
