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Villain hitting

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Villain hitting
An example of a villain hitter and her client under theCanal Road Flyoverin Hong Kong
ChineseĐả tiểu nhân
Literal meaningstriking little people

Villain hitting,da siu yan(Chinese:Đả tiểu nhân),demon exorcising,[1]orpetty person beating,[2][3]is a folksorcerypopular in theGuangdongarea ofChinaandHong Kong—primarily associated withCantonese.Its purpose is to curse one's enemies using magic. Villain hitting is often considered a humble career, and the ceremony is often performed by older ladies, though some shops sell "DIY"kits.

Villain hitting has been preliminarily included in the list of "intangible cultural heritage"by the Hong KongHome Affairs Bureau,and was selected as "Best Way to Get It Off Your Chest" inTIMEmagazine's 2009 "Best of Asia" feature.[4]

Villain

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The concept of "villain" is divided into two types, specific and general.

Specific

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Specific villains are individuals cursed by the villain hitter due to the hatred of their enemies who employ the hitter. A villain could be a famous person hated by the public such as a politician or could be personally known to their enemy, such as when the request is to curse a love rival.

General

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Villain hitters may help their clients curse a general villain: a group of people potentially harmful to the clients.

Dualismis mainstream in the traditional Chineseworld view,and many different kinds of folk sorcery beliefs derive from this view. The concept of Villain (Tiểu nhân) and Gui Ren (Quý nhân,people who will do something good to the clients) comes as a result of thisyin and yangworld view.[citation needed]

Date

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The period for villain hitting is different among temples, butJingzheis the most popular date.[citation needed]According to some folklore[which?],Jingzhe is the date when the whole of creation is awakened by thunder. As a result, different kinds of foul spirits includingbaihuand villains become active. Consequently, villain hitting on this day serves to prevent those harmful to others.

Location

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Villain hitting is often done in gloomy places such as somewhere under an overpass. In Hong Kong, theCanal Road FlyoverbetweenCauseway BayandWan Chaiis a popular place for villain hitting.[citation needed]There are many villain hitters and clients here especially onJingzhe.

History in Hong Kong

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The tradition of villain hitting can be traced back to an ancient custom from agricultural societies in the Guangdong region.[citation needed]According to theChinese calendar,the year can be divided into twenty-foursolar termsand spring is known as the "Awakening of Insects"—when hibernating animals awake from their slumber to forage and feed. To prevent the notorious white tiger from hunting and harming villagers, farmers will worship the white tiger by smearing pig's blood onto little paper tigers as a means of sacrifice and feeding the tiger.[citation needed]As time passed, "villains" gradually morphed into the role of the notorious white tiger and becomes the object of exorcisms and banishment.

Ceremony

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Sacrifice toBaihu
Paper tigersused in villain hitting

Receiving orders from clients, villain hitters require human-shaped papers with or without some information of specific people. As part of the ceremony, they beat the papers with shoes or other implements. The whole ceremony of villain hitting is divided into eight parts:[citation needed]

  1. Sacrifice to divinities(Phụng thần): Worship of deities byincenseandcandle.
  2. Report(Bẩm cáo): Writing down the name and the date of birth of the client on theFulu(Phù lục). If the client requests to hit a specific villain, then write down or put the name, date of birth, photo or clothes of the specific villain on the villain paper.
  3. Villain hitting(Đả tiểu nhân): Make use of a varieties of symbolic object such as the shoe of clients or the villain hitter or other religious symbolic weapons like incense sticks to hit or hurt the villain paper. Villain paper can also be replaced by other derivatives such as man paper, woman paper, five ghost paper etc.
  4. Sacrifice toBaihu(Tế bạch hổ): The hitters have to make sacrifice to Baihu (the White Tiger) if they want to hit the villain onJingzhe.Use a yellow paper tiger to represent Baihu, there are black stripes on the paper tiger and a pair of tooth shapes in its mouth. During the sacrifice a small piece of pork is soaked with pig blood and then put inside the mouth of the paper tiger (to feed Baihu). Baihu won't hurt others after being fed. Sometimes they will also smear a greasy pork on Baihu's mouth to make its mouth full of oil and unable to open its mouth to hurt people. In some regional sacrifice the villain hitter would burn the paper tiger or cut off its head after making sacrifice to it.
  5. Reconciliation(Hóa giải)
  6. Pray for blessings(Kỳ phúc): Use a redGui Ren paperto pray for blessings and help from Gui Ren.
  7. Treasure Burning(Tiến bảo): Burn the paper-made-treasure to worship the spirits.
  8. Zhi Jiao(Trịch hào) (or so-called "cup hitting" [ đả bôi ]): Zhi Jiao, to cast two crescent-shaped wooden pieces to undergo the Zhi Jiao ceremony.

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^*(in English)"Demon-exorcising Service at 'Goose-neck Bridge'"ArchivedSeptember 27, 2007, at theWayback Machine.My Heart, My Home – 18 Districts Reach Out Together for Lovable Sights in Hong Kong. Retrieved 11 June 2006.
  2. ^Petty Person Beating – Hong Kong Tourism Board
  3. ^Time to Beat Your Enemies – Time
  4. ^The Best of Asia 2009 – TIME
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