Na Tcha celebrations ongoing until Friday

The celebratory rituals for the Feast of Na Tcha are held for four days each year, with this year’s celebrations lasting until Friday. The rituals include lion dancing, deity worshipping and a Cantonese opera performance, among others.

The program for today is a parade starting at 2 p.m. from the small temple beside the Ruins of St. Paul’s to Senado Square, and a Cantonese opera performance at 7:30 p.m. at the same temple on a dedicated temporary bamboo stage.

The program for tomorrow will be a lion dance parade happening at 9:30 a.m. at various locations in Macau and Taipa. At 10 a.m. there will be a parade from the Na Tcha Ancient Temple to the Ruins of St. Paul’s, to Senado Square.

This parade, titled “The Prince Na Tcha Parade,” features a golden dragon guard and celestial beauties scattering petals in abundance and will start from the Na Tcha Ancient Temple on Calçada das Verdades, go through Rua de São Paulo, Rua da Palha and Rua de São Domingos, and finish at Senado Square.

The Feast of Na Tcha is one of Macau’s most distinctive cultural traditions, featuring several religious rituals and folk activities dedicated to Na Tcha, often considered to be the patron deity of children. Na Tcha is a deity worshipped by both Buddhists and Taoists.

The Feast is widely observed in Macau as many locals believe in the deity.

The “beliefs and customs of Na Tcha” was recently inscribed on Macau’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Staff reporter