I have already written about this popular temple in Kowloon here, but as we visited it again during the time of Chinese New Year, it was a feast for photographers. There were so many worshippers and the temple was beautifully decorated.
All animals of the zodiac are lined up at the entrance, they are all decorated with red (lucky colour!) ribbons and people line up to take pictures next to the their zodiac as well as the sheep/ram/goat, which is this year’s lucky animal.
The main temple area is decorated with red and yellow lanterns, as usually. But there are many more worshippers than usually, they all come to pray and thank the gods.
Several visitors brought fruit and sweets to donate to the temple…
The air was full of incense, you could hear chanting and people praying – but also a lot of laughter and there were so many people taking pictures of themselves, their friends and family. It felt like a big reunion – and that is what it seemed to be: many families came together to celebrate the Chinese New Year and together, they went to visit the temples and their ancestors.
All the different shrines and temples were beautifully decorated, there were lots of orchids, orange trees and other plants/flowers dotted around the temple grounds.
This time I also discovered an area, where young people came to pray for love. They went up to these statues, which seemed to be Confucius in the centre and a men/women to each side. They were all holding a string, to which the visitors and worshippers tied smaller red strings.
bluebalu 