Tai Ping Chiu Festival

Get it on, bang a gong, get it on.

That's what we lucky souls in the Lam Tsuen valley get for a whole week during the Tai Ping Chiu (or Da Chiu) festival, a religious rite celebrated once every 10 years when "the indigenous Hakka families give thanks to Tin Hau, the goddess of fishermen, in the hope of good weather and a fruitful harvest."

Lam Tsuen was settled more than 700 years ago and today comprises 26 villages over 150 hectares. The Chung, Cheung, Chan, Lam, Yau and Ku clans all call this valley home. Of about 1,600 villagers who have moved overseas, half will fly to Hong Kong to visit and celebrate.

In the weeks leading up to the event all the villages were festooned with huge triangular flags and bamboo scaffolds plastered with gaudy red, green and gold signs. A massive 3,200-seat temporary bamboo opera house was built near the Lam Tsuen Wishing Tree for afternoon and evening Chinese opera performances. I photographed the grounds and the structure the evening before the kick-off; the wind was popping some of the tin sheets high overhead, which made the place feel rather spooky.

There will also be lion dances (hence the banging of cymbals), tons of food and a thrice-daily ritual in which 60 Taoist priests from Yuen Yuen Institute monastery pray for peace. Sixteen stalls have been added to sell snacks and "auspicious local handicrafts."

During this sacred period, all villagers have to observe the traditional rules, such as no slaughtering livestock or felling trees.

All the villagers will purify themselves by fasting and bathing while Cantonese opera will also be publicly performed to please both the villagers and the deity's spirit.

I may live in Lam Tsuen, but I draw the line at fasting (though it probably would do me some good). On the main day of the festival I'll be joining fellow villagers to sit for a traditional vegetarian meal.

Short of Chinese New Year, it's the biggest thing since sliced bread, and I'm pleased to be a part of such a fantastic festival.

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