The Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM) has issued 135 warnings and eight fines to residents who violated fire safety and public space regulations when performing Hungry Ghost Festival rituals.
According to local folk tradition, a person’s spirit continues to live in the underworld after they have passed away, and the person therefore still has “material needs and desires” for things such as accommodation and entertainment. By burning sacrificial offerings, the living descendants hope that their ancestors are able to receive them in the underworld.
Prior to the Hungry Ghost Festival taking place yesterday, the Fire Services Bureau had received 22 fire alerts and requests for help attributed to the burning of joss papers between August 14 and 26.
The IACM also dispatched 13 inspectors during the past few nights, where it found remaining paper and fruit offerings left discarded in the street. As of Tuesday, 135 residents had received a warning and eight were prosecuted and fined MOP600.
Head of the IACM’s Division of Environmental Hygiene, Ho Peng Hung, acknowledged that the remains left behind by residents burning paper sacrificial offerings generated two more tons of garbage than usual, and that the cleaning company collected even more in areas such as North Taipa, Fai Chi Kei and the Northern District.
Mr Ho told TDM that “burning paper sacrificial offerings in the street is a local tradition and is permitted by the General Regulations Governing Public Space. However, residents still need to abide by the regulations, including choosing an appropriate location to ignite the joss papers and only burning them inside an iron bucket.”
“Residents also should clean up the remains after the ritual; they normally do, but in some locations the situation is left unchecked. Therefore we need to follow up with public education and law enforcement,” he explained. BY
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