The Monkey King Festival () is celebrated in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

on the 16th day of the eighth

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of the Chinese calendar, corresponding to September according to the Common era calendar, a day after the

Mid Autumn Festival The Mid-Autumn Festival ( Chinese: / ), also known as the Moon Festival or Mooncake Festival, is a traditional festival celebrated in Chinese culture. Similar holidays are celebrated in Japan (), Korea (), Vietnam (), and other countries in Ea ...

. The origin of the festival is traced to the epic 16th century novel ''

Journey to the West ''Journey to the West'' () is a Chinese novel published in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty and attributed to Wu Cheng'en. It is regarded as one of the greatest Classic Chinese Novels, and has been described as arguably the most popul ...

'' (Xiyou Ji, 西遊記) written by the Chinese novelist

Wu Cheng'en Wu Cheng'en (, c. 1500–1582Shi Changyu (1999). "Introduction." in trans. W.J.F. Jenner, ''Journey to the West'', volume 1. Seventh Edition. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press. pp. 1–22. or 1505–1580), courtesy name Ruzhong (), was a Chines ...

(1500–1582) during the

Ming Dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peo ...

(1368–1644). The novel brings out the concept of immortality from

Taoism Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Ta ...

and

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from

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...

. The monkey Sun Wukong, a character in the novel, is the featured figure of the festival.

Story

The story has entered into annals of

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

in China. It revolves around

Xuanzang Xuanzang (, ; 602–664), born Chen Hui / Chen Yi (), also known as Hiuen Tsang, was a 7th-century Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveler, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making contributions to Chinese Buddhism, the travelogue of ...

, a Buddhist monk during the

Tang Dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...

(618-907). Harassed by demons and bandits, he visits

ancient India According to consensus in modern genetics, anatomically modern humans first arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa between 73,000 and 55,000 years ago. Quote: "Y-Chromosome and Mt-DNA data support the colonization of South Asia by m ...

, accompanied by his disciples, and protectors, Sun Wukong the Monkey King, Pigsy (猪八戒) and Sandy (沙悟浄). They return to China with

Buddhist scriptures Buddhist texts are those religious texts which belong to the Buddhist tradition. The earliest Buddhist texts were not committed to writing until some centuries after the death of Gautama Buddha. The oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts a ...

. The novel's story became subsumed into the popular culture of China. When the Monkey King appeared in a Buddhist novel, he attained a higher recognition in the cultural ethos of ancient China; temples were built in his honor and his biography was established. The birthday of the Monkey King is observed as the New Year Day, and also as trickster day as he had immeasurable talent and cunning wit.

Celebration

The festival celebration for the Monkey King typically involves burning incense and paper offerings.

Taoist Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Tao ...

s celebrate the Monkey King Festival by performing acrobatic moves such as the hurricane-whirl kick. At the Monkey King Temple in Sau Mau Ping, Kowloon, a medium recreates the Monkey King's battle with the other gods in heaven from the novel ''Journey to the West''. The medium is possessed by the spirit of the Monkey King and then runs barefoot across a bed of hot coals before climbing a ladder made of knives. The Monkey King is said to have a bronze head and iron shoulders and is thus unharmed after performing these feats.

Related customs

A different custom, reported by a German missionary from southwest Shandong, relates to the fusion of "heterodox activities with popular culture". It includes calling the spirit of Sun Wukong the Monkey King, at a place which holds rituals. In this festival, four young men are selected for the purpose of inviting Sun Wukong to demonstrate his martial prowess. They fall on their faces at the selected sacred ground and one of them is eventually possessed by the spirit of the Monkey God. The possessed is called ''ma-pi'' meaning horse, a term used to define people possessed by spirits. The possessed person is then awakened and given a sword, which he swings around wildly, jumping over tables and benches, displaying a kind of martial art. When the incense kept burning at the venue is extinguished, the young man falls to the ground exhausted.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * {{Journey to the West Festivals in China Journey to the West Buddhism in China Autumn events in China Observances set by the Chinese calendar