Chong Yeong Festival aka Ancestors' Day

"No school today!" usually means it's a special Chinese or Bahai holiday.  We're not very familiar with either the national Chinese or religious Bahai holidays, so often these holidays take us by surprise.  But no complaints from us, we enjoy a no-school day and we often learn some interesting facts about these new holidays.

Recently, the Chinese holiday known in Macau as the Chung Yeung Festival or Ancestors' Day was observed.  As I understand, this festival was originally a day to protect against potential dangers.  The Chinese participate in activities that promote cleansing and healing such as climbing a high mountain, drinking chrysanthemum wine, eating Chongyang Gao (rice cake), or wearing the Zhuyu plant.  It is also a day to appease their dead ancestors.  They clean and repair graves and burial sites and then leave a generous food offering.  

Since, this holiday meant a no-school/no-work day for us and we didn't have any ancestors' graves to visit, we unknowingly followed the tradition of climbing a mountain.  We were pleasantly surprised at the elaborate celebrations we stumbled upon during our hike.

Starting at Hac Sa Bay, we climbed the Alto de Coloane to the Statue of the Goddess A-Ma and the A-ma Temple and then down the other side of the mountain to the Panda Pavillion.  

  Part way up the mountain we had a great view of Hac Sa Bay.

The Statue of the Goddess A-ma, the goddess of seafarers, stands atop the mountain. 

The A-ma Temple is one of the oldest temples in Macau dating back to 1488.

  

When we reached the A-ma Temple, we discovered great celebrations in progress for the Chong Yeong Festival.  We caught the tail end of a big parade, saw crowds of people buying and burning incense, and walked around the temple.      

 

The temple and adjoining buildings were elaborately decorated in many kinds of beautiful artwork.  

The outside columns and pavings were our favorites.  

We were absolutely amazed at the fine details of the granite carvings.

We finished our hike at the Panda Pavillon, where we showed "Uncle" Chris the famous pandas.

We had a fun day hiking, seeing the different landscapes of Macau, and learning more about it's culture.  It was a great no-school-holiday Macau adventure.