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method of signalling at night: they believe that Chuko Liang used captive hot air balloons to signal at night, to keep armies on the march at night in broken country together, and to facilitate by casting light on the ground intelligence gathering on night movements of enemy troops. Hot air balloons are, in consequence, known as the "lanterns of Chuko Liang".
The villagers of the New Territories have little interest in Chuko Liang apart from this fathering on him of the hot air balloon. They are, however, very interested in the balloons. Traditionally, and in parts of the New Territories up to the present, making and letting fly a free-flying hot air balloon was a recognised way of celebrating a joyful event. In most of the New Territories villages it was a traditional part of the festivities of the Mid Autumn Festival (usually at the end of September). In Sha Tin and Sha Tau Kok most villages would prepare one,
and large villages might prepare several at this season, and this was the practice also in the Tuen Mun and Yuen Long areas. Presumably, the flying of a hot air balloon at this feast is an extension of the Lantern Feast element of the Mid Autumn Festival. Villagers have stressed that there was no ritual or apotropaic intention in the flying of these hot air balloons, “it was just done for fun because they look good and everyone enjoys them”. It was normally the wealthier village families that could spare the cash needed to prepare such hot air balloons, and it was traditionally expected that such families would pay for a balloon for their villages at this festival, and families willing to take on the burden gained face and stature within the village in consequence. The manufacture and flight of a balloon, however, required the co-operation of a dozen or more of the village youths. No one family could cope unaided. Flying a balloon, therefore, was yet another traditional practice which required co-operative activity from all the village youths, like holding weddings, funerals, building houses, and mounting feasts, and which were all so important in ensuring the village enjoyed a good communal spirit. The only ritual accompanying the setting off of a hot air balloon was the lighting of a few firecrackers to help the balloon on its way.
In the Tuen Mun area it was normal for a village family holding a feast to celebrate the birth of a son to set off a hot air balloon during the feast. This presumably is connected with the widespread custom of **hanging a lantern** at the birth of sons, because of the propitious sound
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method of signalling at night: they believe that Chuko Liang used captive hot air ballons to signal at night, to keep armies on the march at night in broken country together, and to facilitate by casting light on the ground intelligence gathering on night movements of enemy troops. Hot air balloons are, in consequence, known as the "lanterns of Chuko Liang".
The villagers of the New Territories have little interest in Chuko Liang apart from this fathering on him of the hot air balloon.' They are, however, very interested in the balloons, Traditionally, and in parts of the New Territories up to the present, making and letting fly a free-flying hot air balloon was a recognised way of celebrating a joyful event. In most of the New Territories villages it was a traditional part of the festivities of the Mid Autumn Festival (usually at the end of September). In Sha Tin and Sha Tau Kok most villages would prepare one,
and large villages might prepare several at this season, and this was the practice also in the Tuen Mun and Yuen Long areas. Presumably, the flying of a hot air balloon at this feast is an extension of the Lantern Feast element of the Mid Autumn Festival. Villagers have stressed that there was no ritual or atropaic intention in the flying of these hot air balloons, “it was just done for fun because they look good and everyone enjoys them”. It was normally the wealthier village families that could spare the cash needed to prepare such hot air balloons, and it was traditionally expected that such families would pay for a balloon for their villages at this festival, and families willing to take on the burden gained face and stature within the village in consequence. The manufacture and flight of a balloon, however, required the co-operation of a dozen or more of the village youths. No one family could cope unaided. Flying a balloon, therefore, was yet another traditional practice which required co-operative activity from all the village youths, like holding weddings, funerals, building houses, and mounting feasts, and which were all so important in ensuring the village enjoyed a good communal spirit. The only ritual accompanying the setting off of a hot air balloon was the lighting of a few firecrackers to help the balloon on its way.
In the Tuen Mun area it was normal for a village family holding a feast to celebrate the birth of a son to set off a hot air balloon during the feast. This presumably is connected with the widespread custom of **hanging a lantern" at the birth of sons, because of the propitious sound
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