Jingzhe Festival: A Closer Look at the Villain Hitting Ritual
Villain hitting, widely known as “da siu yan,” is a popular type of folk sorcery in Guangdong and Hong Kong. The ritual is particularly popular during Jingzhe, a day in the traditional Chinese calendar which marks the awakening of insects. During this period, which usually falls at the beginning of March, many people gather in different parts of the city to carry out the villain hitting ritual in the hopes of bringing fortune to themselves—and bad luck to others. Miss Law , who has been performing the ritual under the Canal Road Flyover for years, talks about the tradition with Mark Yuen. Video by Dannie Ranck.
HK: What kind of setup do you need for villain hitting?
Miss Law: We need quite a lot of things, including a red sheet covering the ground; a statue of the two gods Sun Wukong [also known as the Monkey King] and Guanyin [one of the four goddesses in Chinese Buddhism] placed in a open-ended red cabinet; oranges and mandarins indicating good luck; and a few lit joss sticks and red candles. Also, we need a fulu [a long paper with writing on it used as a talisman] for clients to write down their names, a woman’s shoe, a brick and, most importantly, a sheet of paper for the villain’s names. We also need a paper tiger, some rice and green beans, as well as a red fulu indicating good prosperity. Lastly, we need two crescent-shaped wooden pieces.
HK: Can you walk us through the ceremony?
Law: First, I light up the joss sticks and candles in front of the statues of the two gods. Then, my clients write their surnames or full names on the red fulu and write the name of their personal enemies on a white sheet of paper; they can just leave it blank if they’re referring to villains in general. After that, I’ll hit the white sheet with a woman’s shoe—which we believe the spirit is afraid of—on the brick until the sheet breaks. This is what we call “da siu yan.” It’s worth noting that I’m actually cursing the villains using sentences such as “I am beating you, petty person! You have air, but you can’t breathe!” Next, I’ll wrap the sheet with a paper tiger and burn them on the flames. To end the ritual, I pull a yellow fulu out of the red fulu with the client’s name and grasp the sheet with my hands folded. I make a few twists with the sheet around the flame and finally burn it. I’ll do the same for the red fulu, but burn it together with a red couplet-like fulu, which has a prayer for good fortune written on it. Then, I’ll scatter some rice and beans on the ground. Finally, I will end the ritual by throwing the crescent-shaped, red wooden pieces on the ground three times.
HK: What kinds of customers have you encountered?
Law: Over the past few years, fewer customers have been coming to us and most of my customers were of the older generation. But now, more and more people come to us and many of them are from younger generations. Having said that, I would say that young people—particularly those who are not troubled by villains and don’t suffer from misfortune—should not come here just out of curiosity. This ritual is not a game, after all.
If you’re interested in learning more about the art of villain hitting, visit Miss Law under the Canal Road Flyover in Causeway Bay.
