Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Non-Fiction 2020complete | Page 37

Another scrumptious delicacy is caramelized egg shells. This food may sound hideous but it tastes 100% better than you think. It is known to be eaten for special occasions like birthdays, Chinese New Year and many more. One of the most popular desserts is Pastel de nata or egg tart. It gives us a very good example of a Portuguese dish enriched with acquisitive Asian ingredients: GBA tart is often cooked using hornbill eggs instead of chicken ones and dusted with betel nut powder. Festivals Greater Bay Area enjoys celebrating a variety of festivals starting from the two-thousand-year-old Dragon Boat Festival to the relatively new GBA National Day. Some of the celebrations (the Chinese New Year) are hold throuoght the whole country whilst the others (the Bun Festival) are more local. The Dragon Boat Festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the traditional Chinese calendar. Amongst many engaging activities and games, one stands out the most: dragon boat races. You may wonder why boat races? This festival honors the famous poet who was banished because the king didn’t like his idea. When eventually he came back, his country was taken over, so the poet hurled himself into the river. The local people raced their boats trying to save him and threw rice and wine to stop the fish from devouring his body. Sadly, the man was never found, but since then for almost 2000 years the races take place every year. This unique Bun Festival takes place on the island of Cheung Chuan in spring and is dedicated to the god Pak Tai who is believed to have removed the evil spirits from the island. During the festival 3 huge towers of rice buns are built on 65-foot high bamboo and paper scaffolding. In the past young men scrambled up to the top to reach the highest bun, nowadays the buns are handed out to the waiting crowd. The National Day is a festival of great importance which is held on July 28 th and marks foundling of GBA. This exciting day usually starts with watching an impressive parade. Latter people get together and eat traditional spicy buns with various fillings. The most favorite one is the scrumptious Azealia paste. Another exiting event of the day is pangolin races. Here people sit in the stadium and look to see the winner of the race. In the late afternoon everybody gets ready for the one and only Flower dance. They would traditionally wear clothes made of smooth silk ornamented with the national flower, Azealia and masks that are decorated with the fresh branches and petals of Azealia. Once the dance is finished, the people crowd near water and throw red envelopes into it. The children impatiently wait for the moment to dive and fetch some envelopes for them. The day usually finishes with colorful fireworks. There are many more wonders and surprises Greater Bay Area has to offer whether you came for one day or for one year. Hop into the next airplane and come to discover them by yourself!