https://www.scmp.com/rss/330426/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Paper offerings resembling passports, mainland China travel permits and flight tickets have become the most sought-after items during this year’s Ching Ming Festival, as Hongkongers starved of travel due to Covid-19 curbs wish their ancestors do not suffer the same fate. Grave-sweepers visited family tombs in small batches on Tuesday while adhering to the government’s social-distancing curbs that include a ban on public gatherings of more than two people across households. Ching Ming Festival, a... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3173132/hongkongers-unfulfilled-wanderlust-spill-paper?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3173132/hongkongers-unfulfilled-wanderlust-spill-paper?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 05 Apr 2022 08:53:01 +0000 A top rural leader drew a prophecy warning against playing the “hero” and urged the city to “stick to the old ways” during an annual Lunar New Year ritual on Wednesday. The “neutral” No 38 fortune stick, drawn by Heung Yee Kuk chairman Kenneth Lau Ip-keung on the second day of the Year of the Tiger, read: “Men up above seek the fruit of truth. I head to the low ground to pick ginger and Chinese mustard.” “An altar may well be a kitchen. Act not as a hero to teach hunting,” it added. The omen... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3165541/rural-leader-draws-fortune-telling-hong-kong-stick-old-ways?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3165541/rural-leader-draws-fortune-telling-hong-kong-stick-old-ways?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 02 Feb 2022 01:19:14 +0000 Wedding dolls play a unique role in Hong Kong wedding days and the tradition is special to the city’s many marrying couples. A pair of dolls (usually the soft toys known as plushies) are dressed in wedding clothes, usually an elaborate bridal gown and a suit, and used to decorate the newlyweds’ wedding car or venue. The plushies are chosen from a wide variety of dolls of different sizes and shapes and dressed distinctively to reflect the couple’s story of romance. Irene Law Oi-ling, 65, has been... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3150932/wedding-doll-dress-maker-keeping-unique-hong-kong-tradition?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3150932/wedding-doll-dress-maker-keeping-unique-hong-kong-tradition?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 03 Oct 2021 03:45:08 +0000 There are so many customs associated with Lunar New Year that, for those who didn’t grow up with them, it can be hard to know where to begin. Who knew I’d be given the cold shoulder by my friend’s entire family after gifting them a set of kitchen knives? Who could have foreseen I’d lose everything on the stock market after shaving my head on Lunar New Year’s day? Plenty of people, apparently. Nowadays, a rudimentary search for “LNY traditions” dredges up a barrage of listicles long and short... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/leisure/article/3121446/it-time-break-lunar-new-year-traditions-not-if-you-want?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/leisure/article/3121446/it-time-break-lunar-new-year-traditions-not-if-you-want?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 Feb 2021 01:00:14 +0000 I was in the middle of Tai Hang when the fire dragon took hold. For three nights during the Mid-Autumn Festival, this normally quiet neighborhood in Hong Kong erupts into a frenzy. Crowds of spectators pack this tiny street to watch 300 men parade around a straw dragon adorned with 24,000 slow-burning incense sticks, while performers bang on drums and gongs. Inside Tai Hang's annual fire dragon dance pic.twitter.com/EweqUkE7Fd — Goldthread is haunted (@Goldthread2) October 25, 2018 It is... https://www.scmp.com/culture/fire-dragon-takes-over-streets-hong-kong-once-year/article/3000204?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/fire-dragon-takes-over-streets-hong-kong-once-year/article/3000204?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 25 Oct 2018 13:00:37 +0000