215
person with the highest number of positive responses would become the principal for that year's functions and observances.
As permanent manager, responsible for the land, structure and property of the temple, Mr. Chan was in a separate category, and his duties were not subject to the throws of the blocks. He kept his position through his continued interest and activity, and his status as a prosperous man who devoted his time and money to temple business.
The temple was crowded at festival time, but not at other times. All sources of information agree that about thirty tables, seating around 250 persons, were regularly put out each year in the 1930s for the yearly feast in front of the temple, and large crowds flocked there to worship and to attend the puppet shows given at this time and, it was said, much earlier. The villagers often came in the large groups organised for worshipping purposes and known locally as pao wui (✨). An old lady from Po Kong village recalls going there regularly with such a group shortly after her marriage into Po Kong about 1900. In her youth it was mostly men who went to worship from her village. Her father-in-law often went to the temple for thanksgiving (he died in 1914, aged 66), and there were usually at that date twenty to thirty people in the visiting party from that village, very few of them women. Roast pork was divided among the members of the pao wui after the worshipping.
The temple owed its popularity to the supposed efficacy of the goddess. The old lady mentioned above stressed that the Kwun Yam image there was very kind-hearted, and hence greatly revered locally. The village people attached great importance to the personal connection between their families and the goddess: and, as she put it, ‘many girls of my day became her god-daughters, and my brother-in-law had become her god-son'. In case of sickness or perplexity, the villagers would have resort to the goddess. From what I have heard from old persons in the other villages of the adjoining area, this was the prevailing sentiment in pre-war days, and accounts for the general popularity enjoyed by the temple. The fung shui of the temple was also held to be good, providing additional assurance to worshippers.
215
person with the highest number of positive responses would become the principal for that year's functions and observances.
As permanent manager, responsible for the land, structure and property of the temple, Mr. Chan was in a separate category, and his duties were not subject to the throws of the blocks. He kept his position through his continued interest and activity, and his status as a prosperous man who devoted his time and money to temple business.
The temple was crowded at festival time, but not at other times. All sources of information agree that about thirty tables, seating around 250 persons, were regularly put out each year in the 1930s for the yearly feast in front of the temple, and large crowds flocked there to worship and to attend the puppet shows given at this time and, it was said, much earlier. The villagers often came in the large groups organised for worshipping purposes and known locally as pao wui (✨). An old lady from Po Kong village recalls going there regularly with such a group shortly after her marriage into Po Kong about 1900. In her youth it was mostly men who went to worship from her village. Her father in law often went to the temple for thanksgiving (he died in 1914, aged 66), and there were usually at that date twenty to thirty people in the visiting party from that village, very few of them women. Roast pork was divided among the members of the pao wui after the worshipping.
The temple owed its popularity to the supposed efficacy of the goddess. The old lady mentioned above stressed that the Kwun Yam image there was very kind-hearted, and hence greatly revered locally. The village people attached great importance to the personal connection between their families and the goddess: and, as she put it, ‘many girls of my day became her god-daughters, and my brother in law had become her god-son'. In case of sickness or perplexity, the villagers would have resort to the goddess. From what I have heard from old persons in the other villages of the adjoining area, this was the prevailing sentiment in pre-war days, and accounts for the general popularity enjoyed by the temple. The fung shui of the temple was also held to be good, providing additional assurance to worshippers.
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