Ritual Abuse

Superstitious senior citizens will do anything to get a bag of "blessed rice", including sitting in a queue for 18 hours, refusing to take a bathroom break, and bowling over one another to get a better position at the head of the line.

As part of the Hungry Ghost Festival, 5kg rice sacks are given away at several Kowloon venues. Some folks believe it will keep demons away and guarantee family safety, yet miss the irony of the situation when people are injured or become ill each year at various handout spots.

Organisers who use the queueing system are being accused of "indirect abuse of the elderly", while other groups have instituted a ticketing system, where seniors pick up a ticket in the morning and return to collect the rice in the afternoon.

The latter method makes more sense: ticket-holders don't succumb to the temporary mob insanity which stems from unfounded fears that supplies will run out.

Considering how far the old folks are willing to torment themselves for a bag of rice worth a little more than US$5, it's a miracle no one has keeled over dead.

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