Mazu Memorial Ceremony
01 · Historical Records
In the Southern Song dynasty, members of the Lin family from Putian, the hometown of the Queen of Heaven, came to settle at Pok Hong in Hong Kong and built at Fat Tong Mun the first temple in Hong Kong dedicated specifically to the Queen of Heaven, which became known as the "Great Temple." Thereafter the worship of the Queen of Heaven developed widely in Hong Kong, and to this day Hong Kong has as many as one hundred Queen of Heaven temples.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Hong Kong Tin Hau Festival is a comprehensive folk celebration widely observed in Hong Kong, centered on the worship of Mazu and combining such forms as opera-troupe performances and processions. In gratitude for the Queen of Heaven's protection, a "Tin Hau Festival" is organized every year to celebrate her birthday. The worship of Mazu in Hong Kong has a very long history. All of Hong Kong's principal market towns have Tin Hau temples, which have become places for local deliberation and the arbitration of disputes. In the long-established farming areas, in order to coordinate the distribution of local resources, the villages within a single irrigation system took the Tin Hau temple as their common symbol; in fishing communities, the worship of the Queen of Heaven is even more active and Tin Hau temples are everywhere, as fishermen believe that the Queen of Heaven constantly helps them face the unpredictable risks of the sea. Each year the Tin Hau Festival is an important occasion for everyone to repay the goddess's grace. One of the festival's activities is the distribution of "flower cannons" (fa pao), through "grabbing the flower cannon" or "drawing lots for the flower cannon," so that the Queen of Heaven's protection is transmitted to the faithful through them. Each flower cannon, made of bamboo and paper, contains a small statue of the Queen of Heaven; the believer who receives a flower cannon may keep and worship the small statue and receive the Queen of Heaven's protection. The following year, new flower cannons are commissioned and the small statues are returned to the Tin Hau temple for redistribution. The faithful form "flower cannon associations," which organize lion-dance, unicorn-dance, or dragon-dance teams to take part in the Tin Hau Festival celebrations. Every year the faithful gather together for the Tin Hau Festival: they watch shengong operas, burn incense at the temples, take part in the Tin Hau procession and the flower-cannon lottery, and then attend the banquet together. Some flower cannon associations hold auctions for "sacred objects" during the banquet to raise income to support their annual activities. Organizing a Tin Hau Festival requires a great deal of manpower and resources; the organizers must attract the faithful to take part and must also find new sources of funding and economize, so that the activities can continue. In today's highly diverse Hong Kong society, the Queen of Heaven's faithful come from different regions and different trades; local communities have also developed their own ways of celebration, celebrating the Tin Hau Festival on different days, thereby fulfilling the function of drawing the community together. The temples related to the Queen of Heaven and the Tin Hau Festival celebrations record the developmental history of Hong Kong society; the Cantonese opera performed in the celebrations, as well as the related sculptures, murals, paper effigies, and other physical objects and their production crafts, are also continuously practiced and transmitted through this activity, giving it significant historical value and cultural function.
Seizing and drawing the firecracker
The firecracker carrying the goddess's blessing is seized or drawn by lot, so every household may receive a share.
Returning the small image
A bamboo-and-paper firecracker holds a small image of the goddess, which is returned to the temple the following year for redistribution.
The firecracker society's processions
Firecracker societies field lion, qilin and dragon teams, each with its own head and ground, dividing the temple front into several centres of noise.
The opera shed and its Cantonese plays
Twenty-eight districts erect a shed and hire Cantonese opera troupes for several days of merit plays, stretching the festival to a week.
Bidding for the sacred object
At the banquet some societies auction a sacred object, so the winner gains a token while the society funds the next year.
The great temple at Po Kong
Settlers from Putian raised Hong Kong's first dedicated temple at Po Kong in the Southern Song; today a hundred such shrines serve the markets.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Hong Kong's Tin Hau temples follow the locations of the market towns and fishing villages: the principal market towns all have Tin Hau temples, which serve both as places of sacrifice and as public venues for local deliberation and the arbitration of disputes; the villages within a single irrigation system took the Tin Hau temple as their common symbol. Adapting to circumstances and dates is another characteristic: as the faithful come from different regions and trades, each district holds its banquet celebrations on different days, using opera sheds, Cantonese shengong operas, and the flower-cannon lottery to bring different neighborhoods together; today twenty-eight localities still organize large-scale Tin Hau Festival celebrations, each on its own date, which nonetheless achieves the effect of drawing the community together.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Mazu Memorial Ceremony · Mazu Memorial Ceremony · Mazu Memorial Ceremony · Mazu Memorial Ceremony · Mazu Memorial Ceremony · Mazu Memorial Ceremony · Mazu Memorial Ceremony.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
In Hong Kong, people call Mazu the "Tin Hau" (Queen of Heaven), regarding her as the protective deity of the locality, and build temples to worship her. Today twenty-eight places in Hong Kong still organize large-scale Tin Hau Festival celebrations, arranging the erection of opera sheds and engaging Cantonese opera troupes to perform "shengong" operas for several days, with gods and people rejoicing together and a markedly communal character of transmission.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Lin Jinbang 04-1962
- Ma Zhaosheng 05-2983
- Wu Jiang 05-2984
- Chen Jianquan 05-2985
- Li Qingxiang
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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