Di Zang's Birthday Celebration

Did you miss celebrating Di Zang's birthday?  If so, I am not surprised.  He is a benevolent master of the underworld, a deity brought to Hong Kong around 60 years ago by people from the Hokklo dialect group in eastern Guangdong, mainland China.  These people were refugees, squatters and it took them many years to save enough money to build their own temples in Kwun Tong area of Kowloon. It is a very small, yet close-knit community, that still retains their own language and culture in Hong Kong.

On Oct 19th, I joined a small tour to experience the beginning of the days of celebration for this deity. The start of the celebrations is the dance through the streets from one temple to two others, to gather the deities from there and bring them back to the main temple for the celebrations.  As soon as we entered the main temple, the bustle of activity told us this was an exciting event!  If you have ever watched church ladies preparing for a potluck dinner, you can picture what is going on.....

I think the travel mug may be a

recent addition to the rituals!



Along with the ladies, there were others starting their worship.  These traditions have lasted for thousands of years and across thousands of miles.  

The birthday celebrations, though starting with the gathering of deities, really focused on days of operas.  How many performances depended on the donations made for the event.  During poor economic times, there may only be a few days worth.  The past year has been good in this community as they are prepared for ten days of performances!  As a motivator and sign of recognition, they post who has donated what amount of money - would this work in your organization???

Because the Hokklo group is small, they have to bring in an opera troupe from mainland China who speak their language.  We were fortunate to see them preparing for the procession to the other temples.  The make up, costumes and people are beautiful! 

The parts of the procession, and opera, are the dragon and unicorn - two mystical and powerful beasts; the horses which mean prosperity and austerity;

 women carrying flower offerings to the various deities;

a sedan chair for the deities gathered from the other temples to be carried in; and much more.   

At last, all seemed to be ready, and after each of these elements performing for the deities in the main temple, off to the streets to gather the deities from the two other Hokklo temples.  We followed the procession, along with many Hokklo people who graciously showed us their world and talked about it. 

I have put it in a short video...the procession and gathering of deities took over an hour but you only have to watch a couple minutes of it.  Enjoy the contrast of the traditional procession through the modern streets where police stop traffic for the parade.  Also enjoy the moments of still shots with no sound...with the drums and other instruments, we were all feeling it effect our hearing over the hour!

I have so many other shots and videos that I would be happy to share with you in person if you wish....this is long enough, however it speaks of the contrast in old and new that trive together in Hong Kong. 

As usual, love you all
Linda (and Jeff)