February 5, 2019: Chinese Lunar New Year
Before the Lunar New Year, everyone is busy with all kinds of chores, like buying New Year’s foods, preparing red packets, getting haircuts, and purchasing new clothes. On the 28th day of the 12th month of the lunar calendar, everyone spring cleans their houses, which in Cantonese is referred to as 大掃除.
On New Year’s Eve, family members gather and have a festive dinner together, called 團年飯.
On New Year’s Day, people visit their parents and wish for good luck at shrines by burning incense.
You should wear red during the Lunar New Year, because in Chinese culture, red, or 紅色 in Cantonese, represents “the joy” and “good luck.”
February 19, 2019: Spring Lantern Festival
The main activity of the Lantern Festival is to admire the full moon, or 月圓 in Cantonese. It accompanies beautiful lanterns, or 燈籠. Every year, there are Lantern Carnivals, or 元宵綵燈會, held in Hong Kong, offering many programs including lantern displays, ethnic dance, traditional stage arts, and so on.
There are also lighting-up ceremonies with lantern riddles 猜燈謎, and game booths. That’s why the ceremony is perfect for the whole family to join and enjoy together.
You can also find the lantern riddles derived from ancient lantern admiration, where riddles are written on the lantern for people to think about while they admire it.
April 5, 2019: Ching Ming Festival
The traditional activities of the Ching Ming Festival are to visit, clean, and pay respects at ancestors’ graves, or 掃墓 in Cantonese. Therefore, you can see people carrying out filial piety by burning incense, weeding, and burning joss money and paper-mâché offerings, or 紙紮祭品, in front of the tombstones.
People in Hong Kong burn paper-mâché models in the shape of daily-use items during the day. The offerings can be anything from fancy cars, to villas, servants, yachts, game consoles, mobile phones, pets, and more. Descendants send these items to their ancestors in the underworld by burning them, hoping that the ancestors will have an affluent lifestyle in the afterlife. Everything that we use comes in a paper-mâché version for the deceased.
May 13, 2019: The day following the Birthday of the Buddha
The main purpose of celebrating Buddha’s Birthday is to remind people to take in the Buddha’s wisdom (or 智慧), wash away the pollution of the inner self, purify the mind, and to remind people of the reason they need to do good deeds, or 行善 in Cantonese. Buddhism’s code of ethics guides people to perform good deeds and elevate the human spirit realm, and it also acts as an important force in establishing a harmonious society.
On the day of Buddha’s Birthday, the Po Lin Monastery holds a solemn and grand Buddha’s Birthday celebration. It includes a public Buddha bathing ceremony and Shaolin Kung Fu performances, or 功夫表演. The Buddha bathing ceremony is carried out by worshippers pouring fragrant water on the Buddha statue. This is for purifying the mind with the help of Buddha’s wisdom.
June 7, 2019: Dragon Boat Festival
In Cantonese, the Dragon Boat Festival is called 端午節. Let’s take a look at the origins of this festival. Along with being famous for his poetry, the poet 屈原 was an important official in the State of Chu. He repeatedly tried to convince the king to ally with the State of Qi to fight against the stronger State of Qin, but the king was fatuous and exiled him instead. In the end, the state was destroyed by Qin. Full of grief and agony, the poet 屈原 committed suicide, or 自殺, by drowning himself in the river. This eventually became the origin of the rituals of the Dragon Boat Festival.
One ritual of this festival is to eat rice dumplings, or 糭 in Cantonese. These are made with glutinous rice and meat, or dates wrapped in long bamboo or reed leaves that are steamed before eaten.
As the festival’s name implies, another custom of the Dragon Boat Festival is rowing a Dragon Boat, which is 龍舟 in Cantonese.
July 1, 2019: Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day
This is the day to commemorate Hong Kong’s return to China. On the morning of July 1 at 7:58 sharp, the Chief Executive, or 行政長官, of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, all members of the Executive Council, and government officials attend the flag-raising ceremony, or 升旗儀式 at Golden Bauhinia Square. Then, the performances by the Police Band and the Flying Service and Disciplinary Forces follow and they give salutes from the air and the sea. After that, a reception is held with many segments of the community invited to attend. In the evening, a dazzling firework display is held at Victoria Harbour.
August 7, 2019: Seven Sisters Festival (Chinese Valentine’s Day)
In Cantonese, Valentine’s Day is called 情人節.
On Valentine’s Day in Hong Kong, the streets are filled with couples. The must-do routine for this romantic holiday in Hong Kong is to have a date with a candlelit dinner, 燭光晚餐, sometimes followed by a romantic movie afterwards.
Like in many cultures, couples in Hong Kong often exchange gifts on this day. It’s typical for the guy in the relationship to give his girlfriend something expensive, like jewelry (首飾) or a designer handbag (名牌手袋) while the girl usually buys electronic products (電子產品) or clothing for her boyfriend.
August 15, 2019: Hungry Ghost Festival
In Chinese mythology, the gates of hell open during the seventh month of the lunar calendar, which enables wandering souls and ghosts from the underworld to come to the world of the living. The 15th of the seventh month of the lunar calendar is considered the peak time for this. In Hong Kong, this season is still celebrated as the Ghost Festival. During the Ghost Festival, some people worship their ancestors, or 祖先, at home as a display of filial piety, as well as to pray for their ancestors’ blessing.
Some people also burn incense, joss paper, and sacrificial offerings on the roadside. This is done in order to appease the wandering souls in the hopes that they don’t become hungry ghosts. It’s also done for the sake of appeasing the grudges of those who died unjustly to help them rest in peace.
September 13, 2019: Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival
Mid-Autumn Festival is held on August 15th of the lunar calendar, and is the closest full moon day to the Autumnal Equinox. Full moon, or 月圓, symbolizes reunion in Chinese culture, so families gather together and admire the full moon while eating mooncake, which is 月餅 in Cantonese.
On this evening, children carry lanterns, or 燈籠, in the shape of their favorite cartoon characters, and teenagers play with candles.
Another Mid-Autumn Festival observance is the fire dragon dance, or 舞火龍. This custom involves a dragon made of thousands of sticks of incense dancing on the streets of Tai Hang in Causeway Bay for three consecutive nights.
October 1, 2019: National Day
The People’s Republic of China, or 中華人民共和國 in Cantonese, was founded in October 1949. The National Day holiday is a very big event in mainland China, with celebrations lasting seven days; however, in Hong Kong, it’s reminiscent of a tragedy.
National Day is considered a very important day in mainland China and creates a seven-day holiday season, which is also known as October 1st Golden Week, or 十一黃金週 in Cantonese. All kinds of celebrations are held throughout the seven-day holiday. The most well-known event is watching the flag-raising and marching ceremony at Tiananmen Square, or 天安門廣場. A lot of people also take this opportunity to return home to visit relatives or travel abroad. It causes serious traffic jams, or 塞車, all around China, and also causes most train and plane tickets to be sold out across the country.
October 7, 2019: Chung Yeung Festival
Also called the Double Ninth Festival (since it takes place on the ninth day of the ninth month on the Chinese calendar) or the Double Yang Festival (as it’s sometimes believed there’s too much yang on this day, and thus danger), this holiday has a range of celebrations and festivities. Essentially, this holiday is the celebration and remembrance of Heng Jing, who drove a monster away from his country. On this day, many people choose to visit the gravesites of their ancestors—either as individuals or as families—and honor them by giving them food and cleaning their tombstone. Another common element is the chrysanthemum, a flower which is thought to be cleansing and is often consumed in tea or wine.
December 22, 2019: Winter Solstice
In Chinese societies, Winter Solstice is one of the most important traditional events. The date usually falls around December 22 in the Gregorian calendar, and it’s the longest night of the year.
On Winter Solstice, everyone has a family reunion and dines together, which is called 做冬 in Cantonese. People have a delicious dinner with family and friends, and enjoy bonding and reuniting with everyone. And if you celebrate Winter Solstice in Hong Kong, don’t forget to try some glutinous rice balls, or 湯丸 as dessert, to make it a perfect event.
No comments so far.