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DAVID FAURE
earthgods, and the decennial ta-tsius (festivals to thank the gods and feed the ghosts). Besides these festivals, births, weddings, and deaths, also called for celebration.47
Many of these festivals are still celebrated, but some of the rituals which used to mark them are no longer practised. In the Mid-Autumn Festival, for instance, it used to be common practice for women and young people to sit outside their houses at night and repeat certain lines until one of them went into a trance.48 After mid-night, on the Tsat Tse Festival, villagers gathered water, which could be preserved in a jar and used as medicine throughout the year.49 Temple celebrations were hardly as well endowed before World War II as they are today. In the place of the operas that are presented to the gods nowadays, there used to be puppet shows only except at Sai Kung Market, which alone could afford opera pre-war.50 Feasts were essential to all celebrations. At temple festivals, each worshipping group held its own feast; at grave worship ceremonies, lineage members ate together at the graves, and for all other festivals, each family celebrated on its own. Feasts at weddings and funerals were open to all villagers from all of the villages in the same neighbourhood alliance.51
Celebrations were meant to be colourful. They fulfilled the need for entertainment in village life at a time when other forms of popular entertainment were unknown as well as expressing deeply ingrained religious beliefs.
The musical culture
Singing was an important ingredient of village life. At weddings, brides sang for "several days and nights" to express their sorrow at having been "forced" into marriage. At funerals, women relatives keened to express their grief, and to recount their relationship with the deceased. "Mountain songs" were sung between young men and young women. In some villages, the singing of these "mountain songs" was institutionalized, so that it was understood that Sha Kok Mei, for instance, would sing "against" Pak Kong in an annual "mountain song" contest. Punti, Hakka, and the boat people, all had their own songs. In addition, there were professionals, who came into the villages to sing for money. Quite a few villagers still remember the little clappers these singers carried.52
180
DAVID FAURE
earthgods, and the decennial ta-tsius (festivals to thank the gods and feed the ghosts). Besides these festivals, births, weddings, and deaths, also called for celebration.47
Many of these festivals are still celebrated, but some of the rituals which used to mark them are no longer practised. In the Mid-Autumn Festival, for instance, it used to be common practice for women and young people to sit outside their houses at night and repeat certain lines until one of them went into a trance.48 After mid-night, on the Tsat Tse Festival, villagers gathered water, which could be preserved in a jar and used as medicine throughout the year.49 Temple celebrations were hardly as well endowed before World War II as they are today. In the place of the operas that are presented to the gods nowadays, there used to be puppet shows only except at Sai Kung Market, which alone could afford opera pre-war. 50 Feasts were essential to all celebrations. At temple festivals, each worshipping group held its own feast; at grave worship ceremonies, lineage members ate together at the graves, and for all other festivals, each family celebrated on its own. Feasts at weddings and funerals were open to all villagers from all of the villages in the same neighbour- hood alliance.51
Celebrations were meant to be colourful. They fulfilled the need for entertainment in village life at a time when other forms of popular entertainment were unknown as well as expressing deeply ingrained religious beliefs.
The musical culture
Singing was an important ingredient of village life. At weddings, brides sang for "several days and nights" to express their sorrow at having been "forced" into marriage. At funerals, women relatives keened to express their grief, and to recount their relationship with the deceased. "Mountain songs" were sung between young men and young women. In some villages, the singing of these "mountain songs" was institutionalized, so that it was understood that Sha Kok Mei, for instance, would sing "against" Pak Kong in an annual "mountain song" contest. Punti, Hakka, and the boat people, all had their own songs. In addition, there were professionals, who came into the villages to sing for money. Quite a few villagers still remember the little clappers these singers carried.52
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