Cheung Chau Bun Festival (包山節) happens on the 8th day of the fourth month on the Chinese Lunar Calendar. I think the festival might actually go on for a few days to accommodate all the people that go to Cheung Chau for the festival. According to Wikipedia, this festival "draws tens of thousands of local and overseas tourists every year". NO LIE. There were SO much people.
I met up with my "CUHK buddy", Louvier, at Central Pier to take a ferry to Cheung Chau (an island).
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| People, people, people. |
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| Getting closer... |
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| People trying to exit the ferry terminal to go onto the streets |
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History of the Cheung Chau Bun Festival (Wikipedia)
"One story of the origin of the festival is that in the 18th century the island of Cheung Chau was destroyed by a plague and infiltrated by pirates until local fishermen brought an image of the god Pak Tai to the island. Paraded through the village lanes, the deity drove away evil spirits. Villagers also disguised themselves as different deities and walked around the island to drive away the evil spirits."
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On this day, there are a number of special activities.
1) Parade of floats (if you've been to a Chinese New Year parade in the US, it's kind of similar to that)
"In addition to traditional lion dances and dragon dances, children dressed as legendary and modern heroes are suspended above the crowd on the tips of swords and paper fans. They form the parade-in-the-air and are all secured within steel frames, though they appear to glide through the air. Parents consider it a great honour for their offspring to be part of the parade.
This fascinating procession is accompanied by the bedlam of musicians loudly beating gongs and drums to scare away evil spirits. It is led by a spectacular image of Pak Tai, the God of Water and Spirit of the North, to whom the island's Temple of the Jade Vacuity is dedicated." - Wikipedia
2) People also worship deities like Kuan Yin, Hung Hsing, and Tin Hau. The only deity know is Kuan Yin, lol.
3) Bun snatching
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| Bun Mountain/Tower (it's HUGE) |
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| People climbing the bun mountain/tower |
I think this happens around midnight. I didn't stay for that... but
"The centrepiece of the festival is at Pak Tai Temple where are the "Bun Mountains" or "Bun Towers"(包山), three giant 60-feet bamboo towers covered with buns. It is those bun-covered towers that give the festival its name. Historically, young men would race up the tower to get hold of the buns; the higher the bun, the better fortune it was supposed to bring to the holder's family; the race was known as "Bun-snatching" (搶包山).[1] However, during a race in 1978 one of the towers collapsed, injuring more than 100 people. In subsequent years, three designated climbers (one climber to each tower) raced up their respective towers and having cleared the top buns proceeded to strip the towers of their buns as they descended." - Wikipedia
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Since it's a bun festival, of course... you have to buy buns!
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| A line to buy buns at a famous bun bakery... |
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| Still in line... |
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| Different kinds of buns |
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| These buns are huge (no pun intended? |
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A man just chillin on his boat.
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I finally got onto the boat and enjoyed this beautiful scene on the way back to Central...
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| :) |
Jenn
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