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Humans and Deities Connected Through Celebrations: Festivals and Customs in Lingnan, Public Lecture Series on “Lingnan Culture and the World” 2025

The Public Lecture Series on “Lingnan Culture and the World” 2025, themed “Humans and Deities Connected Through Celebrations: Festivals and Customs in Lingnan,” is co-organized by the Institute of Chinese Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Public Libraries. Two lectures will be held to explore the theme in an informative and engaging way.

Celebrations that bring humans and deities together represent a harmonious union between Heaven and humanity. In these festive moments, people commune with the divine and share in collective joy, infusing earthly festivals with sacred significance and deep religious meaning. The festivals and customs of Lingnan not only embody the common characteristics of traditional Chinese festivals but also reflect distinctive regional traits. Approaching the topic from an everyday, down-to-earth perspective, the two invited scholars will explore the religious values and cultural significance embedded in Lingnan’s diverse festive practices.

The talk series is also one of the activities in the Chinese Culture Promotion Series. The LCSD has been promoting Chinese history and culture through organising an array of programmes and activities to enable the public to learn more about broad and profound Chinese culture. For more information, please visit www.lcsd.gov.hk/en/ccpo/index.html.

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Activities in the Chinese Culture Promotion Series

Upcoming Activity

Half a Century in the Festival Field: A Self-Reflection in Hong Kong Jiao Festival

Date:	2025/11/2 (Sunday)
Time:	10:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon
Venue:	Hong Kong Central Library (Lecture Theatre, G/F)
Description:	Festivals are an integral part of our lives. Starting from life experience, this lecture attempts to explain what the speaker has seen and heard in the process of moving from armchair to the field since 1975, and at the same time discuss issues and thoughts arising from long-term participant observation and cross-regional comparison. The Jiao in Hong Kong is not only an important religious festival. For different regional communities, this is an important ritual tool for defining the community’s geographical and population boundaries and establishing ethnic identity. However, from the perspective of long-term follow-up observation, the rituals, content, and interpretation of the local communities’ Jiao festival are constantly adjusted due to changes in the macro-environment and micro-ecology. Therefore, the speaker attempts to use this opportunity to reorganize his half a century field experience from the process of observation and thinking, on the one hand, he will reminisce about the nostalgic past, and on the other hand, he will provide the audience with an insight into the long-term dynamic religious festival landscape of the regional communities in Hong Kong.

Half a Century in the Festival Field: A Self-Reflection in Hong Kong Jiao Festival

Celebrating Festivals and Divine Birthdays Through Daoist Rituals in Hong Kong Temples

Date:	2025/10/25 (Saturday)
Time:	10:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon
Venue:	Hong Kong Central Library (Lecture Theatre, G/F)
Description:	Local temples in Hong Kong, despite serving as religious sites where worshippers make offerings to deities, are open to everyone regardless of religious belief. All visitors are welcome to pay homage, seek divine blessings, and engage in celebrations of divine birthdays and rituals to share with deities the joy of these ceremonies. Temple keepers, known as sizhu 司祝 or miaozhu 廟祝, do not lead large-scale, collective rituals, such as celebrations of divine birthdays. Instead, they invite external “hearth-dwelling” (huoju 火居) Daoist masters from the School of Orthodox Unity or adepts of Daoist altars from the School of Complete Perfection to officiate such ceremonies. Similarly, the Jiao Festival rituals held in villages in the New Territories are entrusted to these Daoist practitioners and conducted in accordance with Daoist ritual protocols. This lecture focuses on divine birthday celebrations and ritual practices in local Hong Kong temples, exploring the ritual traditions and protocols these ceremonies follow, and the roles that Daoist rituals play in temple beliefs.

Celebrating Festivals and Divine Birthdays Through Daoist Rituals in Hong Kong Temples