Kwun Yum Treasure Opening Festival

Description

Kwun Yum Treasure Opening Festival takes place on the 26th day of the first lunar month each year. On this day, worshippers visit Kwun Yum Temples to “borrow money” — more generally fortune — from the deity. After presenting offerings to Kwun Yum and asking for blessings, worshippers receive a laisee from the temple, containing a red slip of paper with the “loan” amount written on it. Temples nowadays sell packages that contain all you would need for the whole process. An important note overlooked even by many worshippers is that after “borrowing” from Kwun Yum, you are supposed to “return” the fortune by visiting Kwun Yum again before next year’s Festival.

There is no definite answer about the Festival’s origin, but one popular account proposes that it first started at the Kwun Yum Temple on Tai Ping Shan Street, Sheung Wan. The festival has been widely observed for around 100 years, in Kwun Yum Temples all over Hong Kong. Popular temples include the one on Tai Ping Shan Street,  Hung Hom’s Kwun Yum Temple and Tai Hang’s Lin Fa Kung.