street SNAP: A Lamma New Year

Walking through the ‘village’ last Thursday evening, I couldn’t believe the festive atmosphere. People were laughing and joking in the street, families were out and about and shops were shutting early – It must be Chinese New Years Eve. The main event, which everyone on the island looks forward to, happens at the Tin Hau temple in Yung Shue Wan at about 12pm. It’s the Year of the Horse, the ‘big’ and ‘sure’ win year, so the turn out was quite good.

The New Year is preceded by villagers burning paper and joss sticks and then starts with an energetic and exciting lion dance by the local kung fu club.

This club is also responsible for the ‘fireworks’, which is a 2-3m string of very large crackers which are very effective in warding off evil spirits and scaring the bejesus out of the canine community. At the end of the dance the firecracker string is lit and all hell breaks loose, within 10secs it’s finished and so are your eardrums! Check out the  Video Here! Like a signal of war(on evil spirits) the rest of the island erupts in a flurry of fireworks and all that’s left are small bits of red paper and the smell of gunpowder.

Kung Hei Fat Choi
Sean