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of illegal structures. In time, it became a fixture, and the canopy and office have long carried the markings affixed by the department and its successor from 1971, the Housing Department, that granted them tolerated status.
The principal celebration at the shrine takes place at the Mid Autumn Festival, on the 14th to the 16th days of the eighth lunar month. Entertainment is provided for both the god and his followers on this occasion, along with protective rituals carried out by Taoist priests. In Elgin Street days, a stage was erected for performance of traditional songs (WA). After the move to Peel Street, a stage was set up in the middle of the “street”, opposite No. 49, built over the steps and with space to let the public pass up and down during the three-day event. Performances of Hoklo Opera were held every year up to 1973, the year before my visit. Permission had been refused in 1972, and there was no opera that year, but in 1973 the managers ignored the prohibition, and held the performance regardless.
For some reason, the opera that year was performed by a Cantonese troupe, instead of a Hoklo one. Perhaps the 1972 interruption, and uncertainty as to whether it could be held in 1973, were responsible. In 1973 the cost was over 30,000 dollars, with the opera troupe being responsible for erecting and dismantling the mat-shed.
Their persistence in the face of official disapproval was related to traditional practice at the mother temple in To Tong Market. There, before 1949, Hoklo opera was performed every year. Moreover, the proceedings were on a much larger scale. The religious rites and operatic performances lasted between 20 to 40 days, dependent upon weather, the state of the local economy - whether it had been a good or a bad year - and the amount subscribed towards the event. Curiously, there seems to have been a local tradition that servants and workers were not to be engaged by residents over the festival period, long though it was. This, too, was said to have applied in Hong Kong, over the three days observed here.
In Hong Kong, the group could not hold opera performances