Chapter 18
Religion and Custom
Being predominately a Chinese
community, Hong Kong is rich in time- honoured Chinese creeds and customs with beliefs from the four corners of the world. It is this composition that makes Hong Kong unique. Skyscrapers lining Victoria Harbour are ablaze with colourful yuletide decorations at Christmas that are transposed into traditional Chinese motifs for the Lunar New Year celebrations
a month or so later.
Religious freedom, one of the fundamental rights enjoyed by Hong Kong residents, is protected by the Basic Law and relevant legislation. The various religious traditions practised in Hong Kong embrace, among others, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism and Judaism. Apart from offering religious instruction, the major religious bodies have and established schools, and health and welfare facilities.
Traditional Festivals
Five major Chinese festivals celebrated each year are occasions for family unions. and feasting. Foremost is the Lunar New Year, celebrated in the first few days of the first moon of the year. It is a time when friends and relatives visit each other and exchange gifts while children and unmarried adults receive lai see, or 'lucky' money presented in red packets.
The Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth moon in memory of an ancient Chinese poet, Qu Yuan, who committed suicide by jumping into a river rather than compromise his honour. The festival has developed into an annual event characterised by dragon boat races and eating of rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves.
For the Mid-Autumn Festival on the 15th day of the eighth moon, adults and children gather under the full moon with colourful lanterns, which nowadays reflect a variety of objects rather than only the animals of the lunar zodiac, and eat mooncakes - a traditional festival delicacy.
The Ching Ming Festival in spring and the Chung Yeung Festival on the ninth day of the ninth moon are occasions for visiting ancestral graves. Many people mark
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