There are more than 100 Tin Hau temples in Hong Kong; the oldest is more 742 years old. Visitors flock to temples to worship and get advice on their future from the god, Tin Hau. 

Lau Yu, the custodian of the Tin Hau temple in Fung Chi Village, Yuen Long, provides an insight into temple rituals.

Mystery surrounds Tin Hau. Some people believe she was born in the Song Dynasty (960-1279) and could forecast weather from a young age. This gift saved the lives of numerous seafarers and she became revered as a god by fishermen. Numerous Tin Hau Temples are dotted along the coast of southern China where the inhabitants, many of them fisherfolk or descendents of fishing communities, celebrate his her birthday every spring. 

Lau Yu.

Nowadays, many Hong Kong people who worship Tin Hau seek her guidence about careers, love, travel, health, anything.

Lau has worked at the temple, built in 1622 by the Chan clan, for 14 years. Her responsibilities range from cleaning, handling temple finances to carrying out rituals and aiding worshippers.

Her workday starts at 4 am when she serves tea to Tin Hau. She then reads Buddhist scriptures until 6 am.

Large toss sticks

In addition to cleaning, she keeps joss sticks burning and arranges flowers.  Joss sticks come in different sizes. Some need replacing daily others will last 13 or 20 days or longer. 

Worshipping Tin Hau:

Another of Lau's activities is making "gold spirit money" out of paper to burn in honour of the goddess.

Watch Lau making "gold spirit money"

She also guides worshippers through the various procedures and helps in fortune telling using bamboo spills or wooden blocks and interpretes the results.

The messages behind the bamboo lot people drew are on the papers.

First, the worshipper addresses Tin Hau. Then he or she presents a container full of bamboo spills to the goddess. Each spell has a message inscribed upon it. The petitioner kneels down and shakes the container until one spill falls to the ground. The message on the spill represents the story of a traditional Chinese figure, for example, a famous general. Lau interprets the meaning of the story to the petitioner seeking advice.

Divining the future from two pieces of wood:

Lau drops the two blocks of wood on the floor for three times. The way they land indicates good, average or poor fortune.

The good form.

The about average form.

The bad form.

People normally come to the temple to give thanks to Tin Hau in November and December for Tin Hau's care during the year. Some people show their appreciation by donating cash and others will buy fuel for the temple's oil lamps. Some will drape the statue with necklaces and jewelry. One worshipper was particularly generous: “Mrs. Au gold-plated the face of the statue for Tin Hau saved her from cancer,” said Lau.

Lau makes her living mainly from donations, sales of joss sticks, joss paper and gold spirit money. Her main expenses are the electricity charges and the HK$10,000 annual rent she pays to the Heung Yee Kuk, the organisation which represents Hong Kong's indigenous villagers. “My income shrinks when the economy is poor,” said Lau.

“The most difficult part of her job,” Lau said, “was instructing people how to worship the god on his birthday and the day after.”  She said she often got no sleep for two consecutive days because so many people queue up to adore the god.

Though Lau's life is simple and routine, she doesn't find it boring. Sometimes neighbors come to visit and give her food. Sometimes she watches television although the set is often out of order.  She chats with the people visiting the temple. She is happy serving Tin Hau. 

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