HONG KONG (AP) — Individuals holding a grudge could have discovered a method to launch it in Hong Kong’s “villain hitting” ritual.
To alleviate themselves from a foul temper, clients paid ritual practitioners who work beneath the Canal Street Flyover in Causeway Bay, one of many metropolis’s procuring districts, and watched them bashing a picture of their goal with a shoe. It might be anybody — rival lovers and unfriendly colleagues, or horrible bosses and unlikeable public figures.
The ritual is especially in style in March as a result of some individuals imagine that the perfect day to carry out it falls on “ging zat,” as pronounced in Cantonese, a day on the Chinese language lunar calendar that actually means “awakening of bugs.”
This yr, “ging zat” fell on March 6. The custom, largely run by aged girls, attracted crowds of shoppers after the lifting of main COVID-19 restrictions, together with the masks mandate.
“I’m hoping to chop out all of the gossip round me and need that the dangerous individuals would steer clear of me,” mentioned vacationer Edison Chan, who traveled from neighboring Guangdong province.
Ho Pan-yong, one of many practitioners, mentioned she needed to assist her clients whack the dangerous individuals away from their lives. She charged 50 Hong Kong {dollars} ($6.4) for the five-minute act, which incorporates lighting incense providing to gods adopted by whacking the goal and concludes by ritual blessing.
The ritual, which doesn’t damage anybody bodily, may assist carry hopes to those that are distressed, mentioned Dr. Beatrice Ng-Kessler, a registered medical psychologist in Hong Kong and within the U.Okay.