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included the rite for Fengchao itself. Towards the end of the Guangxu period (1875-1908) a sang magician, reportedly holder of an imperial degree, of the Zijin county where we had the report of ordination in the 17th Century, created secular songs and performed them after the rituals. The entertainment is known as Hua Zhao Opera, which became an independent genre probably around 1950.83
Fengchao rituals were performed for the groom before his wedding to ensure that his sons would have no deficiency. Villagers concerned seem to believe that deficiency is otherwise likely. In the case of Cheng Tau, where I witnessed a performance of the rite in 1981, there is a deformed boy in the family, and I happen to know that in a village just next to it there was a male child who suffered from what appears to be Down's Syndrome. In the Cheng Tau rite the priest's assistant joked with the deformed boy saying that if he is to get married the rite will be performed for him for free. I remember being told that the rite was not celebrated in Cheng Tau during an earlier period, probably since the communist uprising of the 1960s. If the deformed child was born after that period the villagers would be easily convinced again that the rite was necessary. At Ping Yeung I was told that if the rite is not performed, the slaughtering of pigs for the wedding would have to take place in a "far away" place, suggesting that the rite can be omitted. The informant added that when there were two or more sons in a family, the rite should be performed for at least one of them.
34
While not found in all Hakka villages, there seemed to be a large number of them who did have this tradition. According to the ritual expert hired to perform this rite, such villages in the New Territories include So Lo Pun, Kat O, Hung Ling, the Chens of Ping Yeung, the Pengs of Cheng Tau, the Lis of Ha Hang, the Zhengs of Shan Tau Kok, and the Zhengs of Lin Au, among them many probably had stopped the practice at the time of my interview in 1981.** Villages who had stopped having the rite performed include the Lis of Shuen Wan, the Nans of Shatin (probably Pai Tau or Wo Che, which are known to have some villagers of this surname). Many places had stopped the practice since the Japanese war when ritual specialists were not available. He knew that the same practice was found also in nearby Yantian, and Xiangshan and Shiqi in the Pearl River Delta area in the mainland.
Besides the implication by the brief passage in the Gazetteer of
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108
#2
included the rite for Fengchao itself. Towards the end of the Guangxu period (1875-1908) a sang magician, reportedly holder of an imperial degree, of the Zijin county where we had the report of ordination in the 17th Century, created secular songs and performed them after the rituals. The entertainment is known as Hua Zhao Opera, which became an independent genre probably around 1950.83
Fengchao rituals were performed for the groom before his wedding to ensure that his sons would have no deficiency. Villagers concerned seem to believe that deficiency is otherwise likely. In the case of Cheng Tau, where I witnessed a performance of the rite in 1981, there is a deformed boy in the family, and I happen to know that in a village just next to it there was a male child who suffered from what appears to be Down's Syndrome. In the Cheng Tau rite the priest's assistant joked with the deformed boy saying that if he is to get married the rite will be performed for him for free. I remember being told that the rite was not celebrated in Cheng Tau during an earlier period, probably since the communist uprising of the 1960s. If the deformed child was born after that period the villagers would be easily convinced again that the rite was necessary. At Ping Yeung I was told that if the rite is not performed, the slaughtering of pigs for the wedding would have to take place in a "far away" place, suggesting that the rite can be omitted. The informant added that when there were two or more sons in a family, the rite should be performed for at least one of them.
34
While not found in all Hakka villages, there seemed to be a large number of them who did have this tradition. According to the ritual expert hired to perform this rite, such villages in the New Territories include So Lo Pun, Kat O, Hung Ling, the Chens of Ping Yeung, the Pengs of Cheng Tau, the Lis of Ha Hang, the Zhengs of Shan Tau Kok, and the Zhengs of Lin Au, among them many probably had stopped the practice at the time of my interview in 1981.** Villages who had stopped having the rite performed include the Lis of Shuen Wan, the Nans of Shatin (probably Pai Tau or Wo Che, which are known to have some villagers of this surname). Many places had stopped the practice since the Japanese war when ritual specialists were not available. He knew that the same practice was found also in nearby Yantian, and Xiangshan and Shiqi in the Pearl River Delta area in the mainland.
Besides the implication by the brief passage in the Gazetteer of
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:
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