Hong Kong 2014 Festival Calendar
Welcome to the year of the Horse. If you are born in 1906, 1918, 1930,
1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990 or 2002, then you belong to the Horse!
The Festival Calendar in Hong Kong is a complex mixture
of Public Holidays, and local festivals, some are recognized by the
government as a day off work. The equivalent of a Bank Holiday in
the UK or Statuary Holidays in other countries, while some are only
celebrated privately and are not a day off work. And then some are
a combination such as the Luna New Year which has a government mandated
3 working day holiday, but is celebrated by may people for longer than
this, even though they can't necessarily get days off work.
In many industries in Hong Kong the Chinese New Year
festivals is much longer, particularly in those where it is expected, at
least historically, that family members will have long distances to
travel to "go back" to their ancesetoral place of origin to spend time
with extended family. For example small construction work and
builders take as much as two weeks off work at this time.
On the other hand with the demands of modern commerce
and the need to earn a living many shops actually choose to open every
day of the holiday, so it is common today to find supermarkets,
electronics stores, boutiques and of course restaurants open ever day of
the Lunar New Year festival.
In the table below I have specified which are Public
Holidays and which are not, and provided some notes where matters are
not clear. For the festivals which are not Public Holidays they may well
be celebrated just as seriously, and indeed sometimes more so, by the
older generation and retired people. The Hungry Ghosts festival is
a good example of this which is not a Public Holiday, yet you can see it
being celebrated as people burn paper offerings and leave out food for
the ghosts, who are after all "hungry".
Click through on the names of the festivals below to
find out more about their history and how we celebrate them in Hong
Kong.
See also Festivals in HK 2013
and
HK Calendar
2015
Festival |
Date in
2014 |
Public Holiday |
Notes |
|
|
The first day of
January |
1 Jan
|
Y |
Wed, Happy New Year! |
Chinese New
Year of the Horse |
31 Jan |
Y |
Fri - A day to spend with family
traditionally |
The second day
of the
Chinese Lunar New Year,
Che Kung's
Birthday |
1 Feb |
Y* |
Sat *
public holiday because of CNY, not because of Che Kung. |
The third day of
the Lunar New Year
. Traditionally a day to visit friends. |
2 Feb |
Y |
Sun - |
The day following third day of Chinese New Year |
3 Feb |
Y |
Compensation holiday for the 3rd
day of new year falls on Sunday. |
Spring
Lantern Festival AKA Yuen Siu |
14 Feb |
N |
Thur, 15th day of 1st lunar month.
Look out for lantern display at Cultural Centre! |
Chinese
"Groundhog Day" - An official start of Spring |
6 Mar |
N |
Thur, Excited Insect solar segment |
Ching Ming
Grave Sweeping Festival |
5 Apr |
Y |
Sat, grave sweeping day |
Easter Good Friday
|
18 Apr |
Y |
A day off and a long weekend for
most, but also an important festival for the regions Catholics.
The large quantity of Filipino workers in the territory , who
are predominantly Catholic, means this is often celebrated more
visibly. |
The day following Good Friday |
19 Apr |
Y |
|
Easter Monday
|
21 Apr |
Y |
|
Birthday
celebration of Tin Hau |
22 Apr |
N |
Tur, 23rd day of 3rd lunar month.
Lots of celebration at old fishing villages. |
Labour day |
1 May |
Y |
Thur |
The Loard
Buddha’s
Birthday and
Cheung Chau Bun Festival (also
Tam Kung's
Birthday) |
6 May |
Y |
Tue, 8th day of 4th lunar month |
Tuen Ng
or
Dragon Boat Festival |
2 Jun |
Y |
Mon, have some rice dumplings and
watch the dragon boat race! |
Hong Kong
Special Administrative Region Establishment Day |
1 July |
Y |
Tue, special ceremony at Golden
Bauhinia Statue Square. |
Kwan Tai
AKA Kwan Gon's Birthday |
20 Jul |
N |
24th day of 6th lunar month |
Seventh Goddess' Day sometimes called Tsat-je |
2 Aug |
N |
7th day of 7th lunar month |
Chinese Hungry Ghosts Festival
/ Yue Lan |
9 Aug |
N |
14th day of 7th lunar month,
worshipping can be seen a few days before the festival |
Confucius' Birthday - Also known as Teacher's Day |
20 Sep |
N |
27th day of 8th lunar month |
Chinese National Day
|
1 Oct
|
Y |
Wed |
Chinese
Mid-Autumn Festival or popularly the "Moon Festival" |
8 Sep |
N |
Mon, 15th day of 8th lunar month |
 |
Day after Mid-Autumn Festival
Festival for theMonkey
King |
9 Sep |
Y* |
Tue - this is the public holiday
the day after the festival for people to sleep in! *
public holiday because of Moon Festival, not because of the
monkey god. |
Chung Yeung
the second Grave Sweeping day of the year |
2 Oct |
Y |
Thur, 9th day of 9th lunar month |
The Winter Solstice
- Marking the middle of winter it is a day of family gathering.
Many companies allow their staff to leave a little early on this
day to prepare for the evening feast. As a private family
festival little or nothing will be seen in public. |
22 Dec |
N |
Mon |
Christmas Day
|
25 Dec |
Y |
Thur |
Boxing Day |
26 Dec
|
Y |
Fri |
|
|
Notes: Gazetted holidays, e.g. the official Public Holidays decided by
the Government of Hong Kong, have been published for 2014; but even before that it is
possible to calculate most of them following the rules laid out in the
Ordinance.
See also Festivals in HK 2013 and
HK Calendar 2015