Cheung Chau bun festival

In Hong Kong, the Cheung Chau Bun Festival is held every May on the small island of Cheung Chau. As one of the worlds “Top 10 quirky local festivals” deemed by Time.com, it is certainly something you have to see as a local Hong Konger.

The history of the Cheung Chau Bun Festival dates back to the late Qing dynasty (1644–1911) where a plague devasted the island. To eradicate the plague, and save the island, villagers built an altar in front of the Pak Tai temple and asked the God (Pak Tai) to save them. In addition to this prayer, the locals paraded through the streets with statues of deities as part of a Taoist ceremony. Soon after this performance, the plague ended.

And here we are more than 100 years later, where the local people of Cheung Chau still parade through the narrow streets with deities, lion dances and drum ceremonies to honor and celebrate their beloved history. Oh, and there’s also a bun tower. Yes, a bun tower. As night falls on the last day of the festival, a bun scrambling competition is held where competitors stand at the bottom of said bun towers (made of bamboo and imitation buns) and when the signal is given, scramble to the top collecting as many buns as possible. The higher up you collect, the more points you earn! Although we didn’t stay this long during the day, I’ve heard this is quite the sight.

The most interesting part of the Bun Festival is the Piu Sik  (Floating Colours) Parade. This is a reenactment of the ceremonial parade from centuries ago, where young children are dressed like traditional deities and are paraded through the streets. But these children aren’t just sitting on floats like one might suspect, nope! They’re balanced on poles to give the appearance that they’re floating over the crowd. Each child is accompanied by gongs and lion dancers as the procession continues throughout the island. I don’t think I will ever see anything as unique as this again…

Of all the Hong Kong parades and celebrations I’ve seen thus far while living here, I think this one takes the cake (or should I say bun?) on most intriguing.