If you want to witness traditional ancestral worship rituals, you need not have to trek to rural villages instead you can see it right here in Kowloon City!
Every year on the 12th day of the 12th lunar month, descendants of the Kwok family from various places hold a worship ceremony to commemorate their ancestor, General Kwok Chi-yee’s birthday. General Kwok Zi-yi was a famous military commander during the Tang Dynasty, credited with suppressing the Anshi Rebellion. After settling in Hong Kong following World War II, the Kwok family from Chaozhou continues this tradition annually in Kowloon City’s Argyle Street Playground. Besides offering incense and paying respects, they also arrange for Teochew opera performances. A rare sight within the ceremony is the ritual of “shao lao,” where live pigs and sheep are sacrificed, a practice inherited from ancient Chinese feudal lords’ ceremonies.
The ancestral worship ceremony of the Kwok clan was listed as Hong Kong’s Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2014.
