In a tiny village temple in the hills behind Sha Tin in 1969, gongs sounded and incense rose as a man and woman were married. The bride had died seven years earlier during the great famine in Guangdong. The husband-to-be, a distant clansman and New Territories villager, had passed away many years earlier.
Relatives feared that restlessly roaming the afterlife, both were lonely. So a 'ghost marriage' was held to unite the couple, who had never met. It was a strangely joyful occasion. I witnessed it with a friend who participated in the ancient custom of marrying the dead.
Like many old folk customs, ghost marriages are (forgive the pun) a dying tradition. As recently as the 1970s, such ceremonies were still relatively common. But as village communities withered and clan bonds weakened, it has become rare.
In China during the Cultural Revolution, such semi-religious practices were banned, and even with the freedoms of today they are uncommon.
Throughout the New Territories, there are ample reminders of marriages of the dead. If you climb to the columbarium behind the Leisure and Cultural Services headquarters building near Sha Tin railway station, you will see plaques where the dates of people's marriages were recorded long after the dates of their deaths.
Chan Kwok-shing, of the Chinese Civilisation Centre of City University, says the ceremonies are still sometimes carried out.
'Many people who do it want to continue a relationship,' Professor Chan explains. 'This is especially so if their loved one was killed in an accident. This is more a local tradition rather than a mainstream, religious orthodox practice.'
