A buyer prays throughout a “villain hitting” ceremony below the Canal Road Flyover in Hong Kong, on Sunday, March 5, 2023. People holding a grudge might have discovered a option to launch it in Hong Kong’s “villain hitting” ritual.

Louise Delmotte/AP

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Louise Delmotte/AP

A buyer prays throughout a “villain hitting” ceremony below the Canal Road Flyover in Hong Kong, on Sunday, March 5, 2023. People holding a grudge might have discovered a option to launch it in Hong Kong’s “villain hitting” ritual.

Louise Delmotte/AP

HONG KONG — People holding a grudge might have discovered a option to launch it in Hong Kong’s “villain hitting” ritual.

To relieve themselves from a foul temper, prospects paid ritual practitioners who work beneath the Canal Road Flyover in Causeway Bay, one of many metropolis’s purchasing districts, and watched them bashing a picture of their goal with a shoe. It may very well be anybody — rival lovers and unfriendly colleagues, or horrible bosses and unlikeable public figures.

The ritual is especially widespread in March as a result of some folks consider that the perfect day to carry out it falls on “ging zat,” as pronounced in Cantonese, a day on the Chinese lunar calendar that actually means “awakening of insects.”

This yr, “ging zat” fell on March 6. The custom, principally run by aged girls, attracted crowds of consumers after the lifting of main COVID-19 restrictions, together with the masks mandate.

A practitioner performs a “villain hitting” ceremony as prospects watch below the Canal Road Flyover in Hong Kong, on Sunday, March 5, 2023.

Louise Delmotte/AP

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Louise Delmotte/AP

A practitioner performs a “villain hitting” ceremony as prospects watch below the Canal Road Flyover in Hong Kong, on Sunday, March 5, 2023.

Louise Delmotte/AP

“I’m hoping to cut out all the gossip around me and wish that the bad people would stay away from me,” mentioned vacationer Edison Chan, who traveled from neighboring Guangdong province.

Ho Pan-yong, one of many practitioners, mentioned she wished to assist her prospects whack the dangerous folks away from their lives. She charged 50 Hong Kong {dollars} ($6.4) for the five-minute act, which incorporates lighting incense providing to gods adopted by whacking the goal and concludes by ritual blessing.

The ritual, which doesn’t damage anybody bodily, might assist convey hopes to those that are distressed, mentioned Dr. Beatrice Ng-Kessler, a registered scientific psychologist in Hong Kong and within the U.Okay.