Cheung Chau Bun Festival
The Cheung Chau Bun Festival ( Chinese 包 山 節 , also: Cheung Chau Da Jiu Festival , Chinese 長 洲 太平 清 醮 , German "Bun Festival", "Festival of the Hungry Ghosts") is a traditional Chinese festival on Cheung Chau Island in Hong Kong . The festival takes place annually and is probably the most famous of the " Da Jiu Festivals ". 醮 - Jiu is the name for Daoist sacrificial ceremonies. There are similar events in many rural areas of Hong Kong, but also in Taiwan and Sichuan, Fujian and Guangdong . The festival does not always take place annually. The intervals between the festivals can range from an annual sequence to a single repetition within 60 years (according to the annual count of the Chinese calendar ).
Customs and manners
The Bun Festival on Cheung Chau attracts tens of thousands of onlookers from Hong Kong and overseas every year. It always takes place on the eighth day of the fourth month and coincides with the festival of Buddha's birth . The festival lasts for a week. For three days during this time, the whole island changes its diet to vegetarian food and the restaurants and even at McDonalds only offer vegetarian food. The festival was originally a ritual that should bring the fishermen divine assistance against the attacks by pirates and dangers at sea. Today the religious context is largely in the background and the festival is primarily a display of folklore .
Parade of heroes
In addition to the traditional lion dance and dragon dance , the procession includes the floating children , a display of various legendary or modern heroes who are carried through the streets on sword tips and fans (飄 色). These are local children who are dressed up and carried on steel frames so that they appear to be gliding through the air. Parents consider it a great honor when their children take part in the procession. The procession is accompanied by noisy instruments such as drums and gongs , which are supposed to drive away evil spirits. The procession is led by the statue of Pak Tai , the god of water and spirit of the north, to whom the Yuk Hui Gung (玉虛宮 baoxu gong; Temple of the Jade Vacuity) is dedicated.
The company Kwok Kam Kee (郭錦 記 餅店, guojinji bingdian) is the official supplier for the bun . The company was founded over 40 years ago and today supplies more than 60,000 buns for the event.
Incineration of paper models
A quarter of an hour before midnight, a paper model of the King of Spirits is burned, huge incenses are lit and the buns are harvested and distributed to the audience. The festival then goes on until late at night.
Bun hash - 搶包 山
The main attraction of the festival takes place at the Yuk Hui Temple , where the "包 山" (Baoshan, Bun Mountains) are located. Three 60-feet high (18.3 m) bamboo towers with Chinese Ping On Bun (bao, dough balls) give the festival its name. Young men used to run up the towers to catch a bun. The higher they got, the more happiness the participants hoped for themselves and their families. The competition was referred to as 搶包 山 (qiang bao shan - bun snatching). In 1978 one of the towers collapsed, injuring more than 100 people. In the following years, only three selected climbers were allowed to catch the top bun on their tower and then throw down the other buns in descending order.
Reviving Customs
Due to the disaster of 1978, the ritual was banned by the government. In contrast, there was the will of the population to honor and preserve tradition. In addition to the enormous pressure exerted by the population, the cartoon My life as McDull in particular caused nostalgic feelings. Due to its great popularity, the ritual was reintroduced on May 15, 2005. The security precautions have been tightened for this. Today only twelve trained athletes are allowed who have to qualify in previous competitions and instead of bamboo the frame of the "Bun Mountain" is made of steel. The most successful competitor in recent times is Kwok Ka-Ming (郭嘉明), a trainer for the local fire department. The three "Bun Mountains" will continue to be erected in front of the temple and secured with traditional bamboo scaffolding. In 2005 tower climbing was introduced in the neighboring sports area. This competition was equipped with special safety precautions, such as climbing equipment and professional training, and women are now also taking part in the competition. There has also been a teamwork event since 2006. In these towers, as in the traditional "Bun-Haschen", the buns are removed at midnight.
In 2007 it was announced that the buns on the climbing tower will be made of plastic in the future.
My life as McDull and the festival
My life as McDull was a surprising success on Christmas 2001. This cartoon was in and of itself designed for children. In addition to the cute characters, the film also showed many character traits that are valued in Hong Kong: hard-working, easy-care people who never give up. The "Hong Kong dream" portrayed in the film tore the audience away with it. The animation was produced on computer-generated backgrounds, but retained the impression of a hand-drawn story. In one section of the film, McDull the pig decides to train hard so he can compete in the Olympics , just like Hong Kong Olympian Lee Lai-shan . However, he makes the mistake of training Cheung Chau bun-snatching . When he realizes that this is not an Olympic discipline , his mother writes a letter to the chairman of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), asking that he add the sporting event to his list.
Probably the success of this film influenced the Hong Kong Tourism Board so that the ritual was allowed to be revived. However, it caused ridicule when the Secretary for Home Affair , Patrick Ho Chi-ping , announced that he would contact the IOC to approve the "sport".
origin
Legend has it that the island was ravaged by an epidemic in the 18th century and ravaged by pirates until local fishermen brought a statue of the god Pak Tai to the island. By carrying the statue through the alleys, it drove away the evil spirits. The villagers also disguised themselves as deities and wandered across the island to drive away evil spirits.
Deities
- Pak Tai
Pak Tai (北 帝 beidi; 黑 帝 heidi), the god of water and the spirit of the north, is at home in the Yuk Hui Temple . As a water deity, he used to play an important role for fishermen and sailors. His worship is said to bring good seafaring conditions and good catches for the fishermen. His admirers refer to him as "Pei Fang Chen Wu Hsuan T'ien Shang Ti" (True Soldier and Superior Divinity of the Deep Heaven of the North).
- Tin Hau (Lin Mo Niang)
The second important deity is the sea goddess Tin Hau , the protector of all seafarers. She is revered for sending warnings of storms and protecting fishermen in distress.
- Hung Hsing
Hung Hsing is the terrible god of the south with a threatening headdress, an unfriendly face, a bushy black beard and a staff with which he kills the enemy.
- Kuan Yin
The parade also includes the Buddhist Guanyin , the Bodhisattva of Compassion with a calm and compassionate face.
Individual evidence
- ^ Franz-Josef Krücker: APA Guide, 1998. p. 223
- ^ Sophia Yan: Why one Hong Kong bakery makes 10,000 buns a day . May 26, 2015.
- ↑ TVB show 1st quarter of 2008: 賞識 人間 道, exclusive on the bun race.
- ↑ HK government: Bun Festival upholding both tradition and safety
- ↑ Franz-Josef Krücker: APA Guide, 1998. P. 222
Web links
- Cheung Chau Bun Festival on discoverhongkong.com ( Memento from December 9, 2004 in the Internet Archive )
- Pictures of the Cheung Chau Bun Festival 2008 ( Memento from May 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
literature
- Franz-Josef Krücker: APA Guide, Hong Kong * Macau * Canton . Polyglott, Langenscheidt, Berlin & München 1998. p. 223 ISBN 3-8268-2356-7