RELIGION
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from those specifically exempted, must be registered with the Secretary for Chinese Affairs and come under the general control of the statutory Chinese Temples Committee. All revenue obtained from these temples is administered by the committee, whose first obligation is to pay for the due observance of religious ceremonies and celebrations, and to ensure that the temples are kept in a proper state of repair. Any surplus is transferred to the General Chinese Charities Fund, which distributes it to charitable organiza- tions in accordance with their needs. In the New Territories, where a traditional clan organization has been preserved to a much greater extent than in the urban areas, many villages have an ancestral hall where the ancestral tablets of the clan are kept and venerated. In such villages the inhabitants often all belong to the same clan and the hall is the centre of both the religious and the secular life of the village.
The Chinese as a whole observe five major festivals of the Chinese calendar. The first and the most important is the Lunar New Year, welcomed in Hong Kong in the traditional manner with a deafening barrage of firecrackers. It is a common belief that the mass discharge of firecrackers on this occasion will-dispel evil spirits and bad luck, and usher in a happy new year. The customary exchanges of gifts and visits to relatives and friends are also widely observed. During the Ching Ming Festival, which falls in the Spring, visits are paid to the graves of the family ancestors. The Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth moon and dragon boat races are held at different places throughout the Colony. The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the fifteenth day of the eighth moon, when gifts of mooncakes are exchanged among relatives and friends. The ninth day of the ninth moon is Chung Yeung, when large crowds climb Victoria Peak and other hills in imitation of a Chinese family of old who escaped death and misfortune by fleeing to the top of a high mountain. Graves are also refurbished.
Certain other festivals are celebrated by particular sections of the community. Fishermen pay special and colourful attention to the birthday of their patron saint, Tin Hau, at her temple. The Chiu Chow community celebrate the Yu Lan Tsit, or Festival of the Dead, in the seventh moon, with elaborate Buddhist ceremonies and theatrical performances.