Villain hitting

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Villain hitting (Da Siu Yan, 打小人) or demon exorcising^[1] is a folk sorcery popular in the Guangdong area of China including Hong Kong. Its purpose is to curse one's enemies using magic. Since villain hitting is often considered a humble career, the ceremony is often performed by older ladies.

Contents 1 Villain 1.1 Specific Villain 1.2 General Villain 2 Date 3 Location 4 Ceremony 5 Notes 6 External links

[edit] Villain

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

[edit] Specific Villain

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.

[edit] General Villain

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

Dualism is a mainstream in the traditional Chinese world view, and many different kinds of folk sorcery beliefs derive from this view. The concept of Villain and Gui Ren (貴人, people who will do something good to the clients) comes as a result of this yin and yang world view.

[edit] Date

The period for villain hitting is different among temples, but Jingzhe is the most popular date. According to some folklore, Jingzhe is the date when the whole of creation is awakened by thunder. As a result, different kinds of foul spirits including byakko and villains become active. Consequently, villain hitting on this day serves to prevent those harmful to others.

[edit] Location

Villain hitting is often done in gloomy places such as somewhere under an overpass. In Hong Kong, the Canal Road Flyover between Causeway Bay and Wan Chai is a popular place for villain hitting. There are many villain hitters here especially on Jingzhe.

[edit] Ceremony

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 8 parts:

1. Sacrifice to divinities
2. Report
3. Villain hitting
4. Sacrifice to Byakko
5. Reconciliation
6. Pray for blessings
7. Treasure Burning
8. Zhi Jiao (擲筊) (or so-called "cup hitting" [打杯])

[edit] Notes

1. ^ *(English) "Demon-exorcising Service at 'Goose-neck Bridge' ". My Heart, My Home - 18 Districts Reach Out Together for Loveable Sights in Hong Kong. Retrieved 11 June 2006.

[edit] External links

• (Chinese) "Speaking on Jingzhi (驚螫之談)". Hong Kong Mystery Exploration Society. Retrieved June 11, 2006.
• (Chinese) Villain hitting report, by Chinese Civilization Centre, City University of Hong Kong. Retrieved June 12, 2006.