Festival                                                          

——–Lighting Lantern Ceremony

Every year, in Xinjie district of Hong Kong, villiagers will hold Lighting Lantern Ceremony to welcome new born members who were born in the village the previous year. Usually, it begins at the 12^th day of the Chinese Lunar year. The ceremony is to tell the ancestors of the new born sons. In Cantonese, the word “丁” a son has the similar pronunciation as the lantern. In the ceremony period, the family of the new born son will put up lanterns in the temple of the village and hold a banquet for all the village, and special food are selected to represent fortune and luck. Usually, “Poon choi” is the best dishes. And the name of the father and the baby were written on the register. Then transfer onto a red paper and for the distribution of plate of pork. At the 15^th this month, closing lantern ceremony will be hold and the lantern will burned and sent to the ancestors.

Poon choi

also known as pun choi or Big Bowl Feast, is a traditional type of dish originating from Hong Kong village Cantonese Cuisine. It may also be found in different parts of Hong Kong. It is served in wooden,porcelain or metal basins due to its size and communal style of consumption.

It was said that Poon Choi was invented during the late Song Dynasty. When Mongol troops invaded Song China, the young Emperor fled to the area around Guangdong Province and Hong Kong. To serve the Emperor as well as his army, the locals collected all their best food available, cooked it and because there were not enough containers put the resulting dishes in wooden washbasins. In this way, Poon Choi was invented.^[1]

In 2003, a million Poon Choi feast was held in the former Kai Tak airport. It opened 660 tables, seats 12 people per table, together with the staff a total of nearly ten thousand people participated. It broke the world record of the highest number of people gathered eating Poon Choi. ( Wikipedia )

 

 

Making of Poon choi

 

 

the village temple

the father and his new born son

putting up the lantern in the temple

ancestor worship

preparing the feast

The Traditional Paper Lantern

A Paper lantern is a lantern made of thin, brightly colored paper. Paper lanterns come in various shapes and sizes, as well as various methods of construction. In their simplest form, they are simply a paper bag with a candle placed inside, although more complicated lanterns consist of a collapsible bamboos or metal frame of hoops covered with tough paper. Sometimes, other lanterns can be made out of colored silk (usually red) or vinyl. Silk lanterns are also collapsible with a metal expander and are decorated with Chinese characters and/or designs. The vinyl lanterns are more durable; they can resist rain, sunlight, and wind. Paper lanterns do not last very long, they soon break, and silk lanterns last longer. The gold paper on them will soon fade away to a pale white, and the red silk will become a mix between pink and red.( Wikipedia)

The making of  Paper lantern

I was quite amazed because today’s Hong Kong gives me an impression of equal and freedom, it is hard to imagine that traditionally there was still the inequalitybetween female and male. The festival will hold only for the birth of boys. It seems that only boys are welcomed by the parents and ancestors. It recalls me that in traditional China, women were thought as belongings of men, they have really low social status, because it is commonly thought that girls will get married one day, they will not belong to the family that they were born, while boys always in this family and he can bring new members to this family, hence they were thought as the real host of a household.

No matter good or bad, the old culture and history are the core part of the nation’s spirit, we should acknowledge but not neglect. It’s glad to see that among all the visitors in Hong Kong History Museum, over half percent are foreigners, which is hardly seen in mainland museums. I saw a foreign couple took their children there, they were standing at the exhibition of traditional bridal sedan chair, the baby girl sang to the marriage music of the suona horn. I think it is a good way to broadcast traditional Chinese culture.