CHINESE FESTIVALS - Seventh Moon

SEVEN SISTERS FESTIVAL



Luner Dates: Day 7, Seventh Moon
Western Dates: 7, Aug 2008

Hong Kong's girls and young lovers have the Seven Sisters Festival all to themselves.

The festival has its origin in Chinese folklore dating back more than 1,500 years. The legend, features a weaver maid (with six older sisters), who led a lonely life working at her loom throughout the year. Her father, the Heavenly Emperor, felt sorry for her and allowed her to marry a cowherder from across the Milky Way.

After the wedding, she neglected her weaving duties and the Emperor ordered her to return home and visit her husband only once a year - on the seventh day of the seventh moon.

The celebrations centre on religious rites and feature needlework competitions. As part of the worship, young women make offerings to the night sky and the two stars that represent the cowherder and the maid. They usually present fruit and burn joss sticks and incense in the open air, chiefly on rooftops, in backyards and gardens or at Lovers' Stone on Bowen Road in Wan Chai.

YUE LAAN (HUNGRY GHOST) FESTIVAL


Luner Dates: Day 15, Seventh Moon
Western Dates: 14, Aug 2008


For one long lunar month during the Hungry Ghost Festival, ghosts are said to roam the earth.

In some areas of Hong Kong, visitors can see small roadside fires, where believers burn paper money and other offerings to appease the restless spirits.

Local festivals feature Chinese opera. Popular venues are King George V Memorial Park in Kowloon and Moreton Terrace Playground in Causeway Bay.