Yu Lan @ Every District – Talks on the Yu Lan Festival Tradition

 

Every year, when the seventh lunar month arrives, there are bound to be some spooky whisperings coming up all over town……

 

"Don't go to the Yu Lan Festival venues! That's where the hungry ghosts and wandering spirits gather!"

 

"The Shengong opera performed at Yu Lan Festival venues are for the hungry ghosts and wandering spirits. See how the first row in the audience area is always left empty?......"

 

Activities related to the Yu Lan Festival are held all over the territory during the seventh lunar month as an act of paying respects to our ancestors and appeasing the dead. Among them, the Yu Lan Festival of the Chiu Chow community has a history of almost 120 years, and the rituals are conducted according to the tradition of their native places in Chaozhou and Shantou in South China. For example, there are rituals to help deceased fellow townsmen to pass on to an afterlife, feed the wandering, homeless spirits, offer respects to the deities, show filial piety to one's ancestors in hopes of receiving their blessings and protection, etc. The Chiu Chow community in Hong Kong has upheld their indigenous tradition to this day by holding the annual Yu Lan Festival activities in over sixty neighbourhoods in Hong Kong. As a result, the Festival has become one of the important events popularly observed by local residents in Hong Kong.

 

In this series of guided talks, the speaker will take participants to walk through the grounds of the Sam Kok Mar Tou Yu Lan Festival on Hong Kong Island, and the Cheung Sha Wan Chiu Chow Yu Lan Festival in Kowloon. They will be introduced to the full layout of the venue, covering the prayer altar, the Shengong opera stage, the spirit tablets altar, the Ghost King altar, etc. They will also witness the sacrificial ceremonies and rituals of that day, such as "issuing of permit", the "stage initiating rite" before the opera performance starts, the stage-warming performance of five playlets known as "Five Blessings in Succession", the Yogacara offering service to feed the hungry ghosts, paying respects to the "good brothers" (fellow townsmen who died away from home), sending off the Ghost King, etc. With insights gleaned after this cultural walk, participants will perhaps have a better understanding of the history and the cultural background to the Yu Lan tradition, and be able to dismiss the spooky talk as mere old wives' tales.

 

Sam Kok Mar Tou Yu Lan Festival

Cheung Sha Wan Chiu Chow Yu Lan Festival