January / February

Chinese Lunar New Year ( 24.- 26.Jan .) is the most important of all the Chinese festivals and is the most frenetic happening in the country. Firework displays, lion (or dragon) dances, parades and much more fill the streets with their gaiety and colour. This is also the time to shop for bargains as many shops hold sales with items being cut by 50% or more at times. One of the main horse racing events falls over Chinese New Year as well and this sport is certainly popular with locals and tourists alike. Note : Many shops close for three days over the Chinese New Year.

(3rd. day of Chinese New Year) Che Kung was a Sung Dynasty general who is believed to have saved the inhabitants of Sha Tin Valley from the plague centuries ago and become an immortal and was elevated to a Taoist deity. Today gamblers worship him, as a ‘god' and crowds now flock to his main temple, near the Hong Kong Jockey Club's Sha Tin Racecourse to wish him happy birthday. The Spring Latern (Yuen Siu) Festival also referred to as Chinese Valentine's Day, is held on the 15 th day of lunar new year and marks the end of the Chinese New Year celebrations. Restaurants, temples and many homes are decorated with colourful lanterns.

The Ching Ming Festival is held in April . On this day families visit the cemeteries to worship and clean their ancestors' graves to show their respect. "Remembrance of Ancestors Day", is a key holiday in the Chinese calendar and the tradition goes back thousands of years.

Birthday of Tin Hau on the 16 th April. Tin Hau, is the Goddess of the Sea and has therefore a special place in Hong Kong's heart, due to the territory's maritime history. On this day fishermen decorate their boats and gather at her temples to pray for good catches during the coming year. In Yuen Long, in the New Territories, a parade takes place with colourful floats and lion dances. Lord Buddha's birthday on the 30 th April is of great importance. Worshippers show their devotion by bathing Buddha's statue. Many worshippers will visit the Po Lin Monastery on Lantau Island, home to the world's largest seated, outdoor bronze Buddha. It weighs over 202 tons and is 26 m tall. You also have

Cheung Chau Bun Festival is held on Cheung Chau Island were huge bamboo towers are erected near the Pak Tai temple. The towers are studded with sweet buns and effigies of gods. The peak of the eight-day festival is a large procession were children dressed in colourful and historic costumes parade through the streets. Always held in May the actual date is chosen by divination.

Birthday of Tam Kung is held on the 1 st May . The second patron saint of the boat people his birthday festival is celebrated at the Tam Kung Temple in Shau Kei Wan on Hong Kong Island, which dates from 1905.

Tuen Ng Festival is better known under its more modern name the International Dragon Boat Festival . This 2,000 year-old festival is held on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month . It is one of Hong Kong's most exciting festivals, featuring fierce dragon boat racing. The 11.6 m long boats have ornately carved "dragon" heads and tails and each carries a crew of 22 paddlers. Races are held all over Hong Kong and it's Islands however, the main International Races are held on Shing Mun River, at Sha Tin in the New Territories.

Birthday of Kwan Tai held in June honours this god of War who also serves as the patron god of the Hong Kong police and of gangsters too! He lived during the Three Kingdoms period (AD220-265) and was later deified as a Taoist symbol of integrity and loyalty. An ever-burning lamp stands before his statue in the colourful mid-19th-Century Man Mo Temple on Hong Kong Island's Hollywood Road. The Queen's Birthday is held on June 12 . The following Monday is also declared a public holiday.

Maidens (Seven Sisters) Festival in August is a celebration for young lovers and girls! It dates back 1500 years to an ancient Chinese legend about the youngest of seven daughters of the Jade Emperor who was a weaving maid and led a lonely life. Her father, the Heavenly Emperor, felt sorry for her and allowed her to marry a cow-herdsman from across the Milky Way. Shortly after her marriage she neglected her weaving duties and the Emperor then ordered her to return home and visit her husband only once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh moon. During the festival young women offer fruit and burn joss sticks and incense in the open air or at Lover's Rock on Bowen Road in Wan Chai, where they can scan the night skies for the two Star that represent the cowherd and the weaver maid and pray for a good husband.

Hungry Ghosts Festival held in August is when it is said that ghosts are set free from the underworld roam the world every year for a lunar month. During this festival you can see small roadside fires, where believers burn paper money and offer food to appease the restless spirits. Local celebrations feature Chinese operas as well.

Liberation Day held in August is another excuse for a public holiday.

Mid-Autumn Festival held anytime from late August to early September , t his is another very important date in the Chinese calendar and is celebrated throughout the Territories by families gathering in public parks an open spaces with beautifully decorated lanterns, in a variety of shapes, ablaze with light and color. Victoria Peak is a popular venue on this night. Part of the celebrations revolve around the story of an uprising against the Mongols, when rebels smuggled instructions to their compatriots by hiding them in cakes. Today, special 'Moon Cakes' are eaten during the festivities.

Monkey God Festival occurs in September , which according to this ancient story like all monkeys, is mischievous. This arrogant and troublesome deity first appeared in Pilgrims to the West and is depicted in a novel dating from the Ming Dynasty (AD1368-1644) and has in more recent times become a popular TV. An outcast from Taoist heaven, the Monkey god redeemed himself and gained Buddhist immortality, by escorting Tang Gan Zang on his pilgrimage to the West to obtain the teachings of Lord Buddha. At his shantytown temple in Kowloon's Sau Mau Ping area, a possessed medium recreates the ordeals by fire and stabbing, which the Monkey god suffered during unsuccessful attempts of the other gods to execute him. The medium, remaining unharmed, runs barefoot over blazing charcoal and climbs a ladder of knives.

Mid Autumn (Moon) Festival held in October is another important festival and can be one of the loveliest nights of the year. The festival is in memory of a 14th-Century uprising against the Mongols when rebels wrote the call to revolt on pieces of paper and embedded them in cakes that they then smuggled to compatriots. Today, during the festival, people eat special sweet cakes known as "Moon Cakes" made of ground lotus and sesame. Public parks such as Victoria Park are ablaze with many thousands of lanterns in all colours and sizes and shapes.

The Cheun Yeung Festival occurring in October is another important date for local families and dates from the Han Dynasty (202BC - AD220). During the festival, many people visit the graves of family members worshiping and cleaning their ancestors' graves to show their respect.