If the shoe hits: Hongkongers, tourists strike back at ‘villains’ with ritual to ward off bad luck, but officials no longer targeted
- Busy day of shoe-hitting for practitioners of ritual used to ward off bad luck by striking effigies of ‘enemies’, as hundreds flock to popular Causeway Bay underpass site
- Ritual performers say customers no longer request government officials to be hit, following introduction of national security law
Hundreds of Hongkongers and tourists flocked to an underpass in Causeway Bay on Tuesday to cast away bad luck through “villain hitting”, with practitioners saying government officials were no longer targets of the ritual.
Long queues formed throughout the day at about 18 stalls, with the rhythmic beating of paper effigies and the jingling of bells resonating in the smoke-filled area underneath the flyover, as the mostly elderly women used shoes to symbolically attack their customers’ “enemies” before burning joss paper.
“I was told the queue might be half an hour long,” said Zheng Jingjing, a visitor from Beijing said. “I’ve had some quarrels recently so I hope to get this sorted here. My friend said this is effective and today happened to be the day for it, which is why I’m here.”
Zheng, 36, was referring to jingzhe, the day which marks the beginning of the “insects awakening” season in the lunar calendar and is considered the ideal time to carry out the ritual of beating the effigies to bring good fortune to oneself and bad luck to others.
The communications executive said she was a regular visitor to the city but it was her first time experiencing the ritual, adding it was very different to what she expected and she was fascinated by the sights and sounds.
“There was this ringing of bells around the client, too, and it felt like it would contribute to my aura and get rid of the evil spirits. It gives me peace in the process,” she said.
The names of the clients’ “enemies” are written on the paper effigies, before practitioners place them on a brick to be hit with a shoe as they chant curses. The beaters then burn paper tigers and bless their clients to bring the ritual to a close.
Government officials were previously among the “enemies”, but practitioners said such requests from customers had stopped after Beijing imposed the national security law on Hong Kong in June 2020.