Today is Buddha's Birthday in the Chinese lunar calendar (and a public holiday in Hong Kong). It's also the first day of the Cheung Chau Bun Festival. And it's also the birthday of Tam Kung, a Taoist sea deity worshipped in Hong Kong (and Macau) -- in whose honor there is a parade of lions, dragons and unicorns over in Shau Kei Wan.
Thanks to the Wuhan coronavirus, there was no Tam Kung birthday parade in 2020, 2021 and 2022. But today saw a return of that annual traditional event (which I last checked out in 2017). If memory serves me right, there were a lot more cops in attendance today compared to six years ago and the parade seemed less grand this year. Still, I've got to say that I enjoyed seeing what I saw over in Shau Kei Wan for the most part this afternoon -- and I once again came away from the festivities with a bunch of photographs of what I thought were pretty cool proceedings...
One of a number of temporary (community) prayer spots
erected in various parts of Shau Kei Wan today
Unicorn dancer and supporters/crew making its way
along Shau Kei Wan Main Street
Dancing "lions" duelling by the entrance of
Shau Kei Wan to Victoria Harbour/the area typhoon shelter
houses a Buddha statue) on Shau Kei Wan Main Street
was festively decorated today too! :)
4 comments:
Hi there,
That particular temple used to be right on the coast line when it was built a bit over 100 years ago.
T
Hi T --
Yup, know that about the Tam Kung Temple -- and the Tin Hau Temple (which is even further inland now) too!
Hi There,
That likely means, the main street was the shore line back then. If you extend the Main Street, it actually reaches Tam Kung Temple.
T
Hi again T --
Over on the Sai Wan Ho-Shau Kei Wan waterfront promenade, there are old photos of Shau Kei Wan. One of them shows the Tin Hau Temple on the waterfront. It's quite amazing to see how much land reclamation took place in the area in the 20th century!
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