Traditional Festivals
Bun Festival - Tai Ping Ching Jiu
CHEUNG CHAU
Date: the 7th month of the lunar year
Cheung Chau Bun Festival - Tai Ping Ching Jiu is a traditional ritual and festive event with a long history. It is held to pray for peace and to avert disasters and misfortune for the community. Taking place every year during the 5th to the 9th day of the 4th lunar month, the festival combines folk performances, religious parade and handicraft displays (including paper deity statues, “floating colours” parade (Piu Sik), bun tower and “Ping On” buns (lucky buns)), encouraging broad community participation.
Rituals include hoisting ceremonial banners, welcoming the gods, consecrating deity statues, procession, eye-dotting ceremonies for lions and qilins, appeasing the water spirits,“floating colours” parade and the bun tower climbing competition. The rituals present rich religious, ceremonious and folk culture connotation. The Cheung Chau Bun Festival was inscribed onto the third national list of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) in 2011. It is an important ICH festival in Hong Kong, embodying community memory and cultural heritage.
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