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During the pre-War period, traditional rituals of worship in the spring and autumn seasons were observed at ancestral halls. All lineage members assembled there for the rituals of offering of animal sacrifice and setting off of firecrackers. Lineage members then followed the elders to their ancestral graves, usually located on foothills bordering the village. Upon returning to the ancestral hall, the elders monitored the formal collective worship ceremony in which lineage members, in the order of seniority, kowtowed and presented incense to their ancestors. Some lineages at multi-surname villages, such as the related Los at Shek Lau Po and Shek Mun Kap, held reunions twice a year for ancestral grave visiting before the War. Fruit and three to four roasted pigs were offered as oblations and pork meat was divided immediately after the performance of the ceremonies of worship.
Rituals performed at ancestral halls and visits to ancestral graves were both collective activities of worships at the lineage level. However, without strong lineage organizations supported by economic power, these ancestor worship ceremonies were rather simple and small in scale. There were no communal properties to support big feasts or entertainments. Only pork meat was divided among males. Sheer numbers might explain Tung Chung's weak lineage organization and small-scale ancestor worship. As indicated by the 1911 census, the community had a population of only about one thousand. Single-surname villages there were sparsely populated with 77 people at Mok Ka, 47 at Wong Ka Wai, and 46 at Pa Mei.
Banditry and Japanese occupation during the Second World War struck a serious blow at the already weak lineage organization in Tung Chung. Japanese soldiers wrecked or burnt some ancestral halls and genealogies, and in effect, disrupted the tradition of ancestor worship for some lineages. Pa Mei, for example, caught fire during a Japanese campaign against bandits, and a new village had to be built later. Although a part of the Teng's ancestral hall remains at the old site, according to one of the lineage members, no collective worship has been carried out there since the War. The Japanese also seized the genealogy of the Tengs. The Huangs of Tai Po saw their family register burnt by the Japanese. For fear of Japanese looting, some villages destroyed their genealogies themselves. Throughout our field investigation in Tung Chung, no genealogy was ever found.
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During the pre-Wai period, traditional rituals of worship in the spring and autumn seasons were observed at ancestral halls. All lineage members assembled there for the rituals of offering of animal sacrifice and setting off of firecrackers. Lineage members then followed the elders to their ancestral graves, usually located on foothills bordering the village. Upon returning to the ancestral hall, the elders monitored the formal collective worship ceremony in which lineage members, in the order of seniority, kowtowed and presented incense to their ancestors. Some lineages at multi-surname villages, such as the related Los at Shek Lau Po Hiili and Shek Mun Kap 9, held reunions twice a year for ancestral grave visiting before the War. Fruit and three to four roasted pigs were offered as oblations and pork meat was divided immediately after the performance of the ceremonies of worship."
Rituals performed at ancestral halls and visits to ancestral graves were both collective activities of worships at the lineage level. However, without strong lineage organizations supported by economic power, these ancestor worship ceremonies were rather simple and small in scale. There were no communal properties to support big feasts or entertainments. Only pork meat was divided among males." Sheer numbers might explain Tung Chung's weak lineage organization and small-scale ancestor worship. As indicated by the 1911 census, the community had a population of only about one thousand. Single- surname villages there were sparsely populated with 77 people at Mok Ka, 47 at Wong Ka Wei, and 46 at Ba Mei.
Banditry and Japanese occupation during the Second World War struck a serious blow at the already weak lineage organization in Tung Chung. Japanese soldiers wrecked or burnt some ancestral halls and genealogics, and in effect, disrupted the tradition of ancestor worship for some lineages. Ba Mei, for example, caught fire during a Japanese campaign against bandits, and a new village had to be built later. Although a part of the Teng's ancestral hall remains at the old site, according to one of the lineage members, no collective worship has been carried out there since the War " The Japanese also seized the genealogy of the Tengs The Huangs of Tai Po saw their family register burnt by the Japanese." For fear of Japanese looting, some villages destroyed their genealogies themselves. Throughout our field investigation in Tung Chung, no genealogy was ever found.
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