Hong Kong worshippers flock to Wong Tai Sin Temple for Lunar New Year ritual after 2-year Covid suspension
- Taoist followers wait outside for up to seven hours to get inside city’s most well-known temple before burning first incense sticks of Lunar New Year
- Temple’s namesake, Great Immortal Wong, is believed to have healing powers, drawing worshippers every year to make offerings
Hong Kong’s most well-known Taoist temple has resumed the ritual of burning the first incense sticks of the Lunar New Year after a two-year suspension because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple opened at 9pm on Saturday, Lunar New Year’s Eve, for worshippers to make offerings to the Great Immortal Wong at 11pm.
The temple will stay open until Lunar New Year’s Day on Sunday.
Annie Chan, a 54-year-old nurse, was among the first to start queuing up for the ceremony, having waited outside the temple since around 2pm.
“I come to Wong Tai Sin Temple every year, except for the past two years. I was always among the earliest to arrive,” she said.
“I feel excited and happy today. Since I started worshipping the Great Immortal, everything has gone well and I’ve regained my health. This is why I have to come every year.”
The Great Immortal Wong, widely known as Wong Tai Sin, is a Chinese Taoist deity believed by his followers to have healing powers.
Sik Sik Yuen, the operator of the temple, in 2021 and also last year cancelled the ceremony and revised the arrangements for Spring Festival worship, saying the city’s Covid-19 crisis showed no signs of abating.