Over the last week of May 2023, Hong Kong’s streets girded up for a celebration that's an indelible part of the local ethos: the Bun Festival. It was a momentous occasion as the festival was resuming after three years of COVID-19 restrictions, reported the Associated Press.
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The main site of the festival is Cheung Chau, a small island, where visitors and residents crowd together to watch elaborate processions and eat the buns that the festival gets its name from. These buns are stamped with the Chinese characters for “peace” and “safety”, meant to evoke those blessings for the eater.
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Children in traditional costumes — usually depicting local dieties or characters from history — are spotted throughout the parade, held aloft over the heads of the throng on special stands. It makes for a surreal sight, as their figures bob over the narrow and congested lanes of the island. Cantonese street opera performances are also a quintessential part of the festival experience.
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The highlight, however, is the "bun scrambling" contest that is held at midnight. Towers covered with plastic buns are erected at various points. Participants have to climb the tower as quickly as possible, grab as many buns as they can, and descend. Buns — real, steamed ones and artifical versions for souvenirs — are sold at all the streetside shops.
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The Bun Festival seemingly has an over 100-year-old history, with the islanders beginning to observe the rituals after Cheung Chau was devastated by a plague. They hope these customs — and the eating of the buns — will keep them safe.
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With inputs from the Associated Press. Photos via iStock/Ryan Wai, Shutterstock/Wang Sing and Flickr/Eli Fortjell, Sbally, Max