In Hong Kong, there are still many traditional festivals. Many of them are unknown except to the close community as there is not much advertisement for them. One of them is the Northern Deity Emperor Birthday in Lam Tim.
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A huge temporary Chinese opera theater was standing in the middle of a playground.
Many people were watching that day. The venue is the playground at the corner of Kai Tin Road
and Tak Tin Street – just follow exit A of MTR.
Fly there with
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The Northern Deity Emperor Birthday takes place in Lam Tim (Kowloon). Another name for the Northern Deity Emperor birthday is Bei Yue Da Di.
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This event is organized by the Hokklo community. It lasts six day.
There is free Chinese opera.
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The Northern Emperor is the same deity as the one in the "core" temple of Bun Festival
in Cheung Chau island. The islanders parade the sacred statue of the Northern Emperor every
year.
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The Hokklo community and Chaozhou (Teochiu / Techiu) community are two main communities in Hong Kong. Linguistically they both speak Chaozhou sub-dialect of southern-Fujian dialect but Techiu people only recognize the people from these 3 "cities" as speaking “Techiu-Swatou” (Chaoshan) dialect, i.e. Shantou, Chaozhou, Jieyang. (Thanks Anthony)
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As usual, huge and colorful banner was displayed. Lam Tin features many huge public estates
so attendance was big on every day.
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The Hoklo dialect is spoken by people predominantly from the city of "Shanwei" in Guangdong and a lot of those people became fisherman. (That’s why Hoklo people are found on islands like Peng Chau and Cheung Chau).(Thanks Anthony)
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Those giving money donation to support the six days festival get their name written on
a panel for all to read.
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Deities are facing the Chinese opera theater and also the food donation tables.
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Surprisingly i was the only farang / gweilo there and also only photographer so they asked me to take pictures of the offerings ceremony! They kindly gave me some cakes to thank me for having taken pictures with their camera.
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During thew whole day and evening, people keep burning incense joss sticks.
Huge joss sticks candles last for the six days festival.
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Chinese opera theater is made of bamboo. Luckily it survived the Typhoon level 8 that went near Hong Kong
on Thursday 29 September 2011.
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It is always interesting to go inside the Chinese opera theater backstage.
It is a good opportunity to do a few nice portraits with a trusty Nikon Dslr.
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Such festival is not mentioned in Hong Kong Tourism Board website. Thanks to my friend Paul to let me know.
| Home > Culture > Traditional festivals > Northern Deity Emperor Birthday |
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