Covid Suspends "Villain Beatings" Today

Police were out in force to ensure there was no "villain beating"

The fifth wave has spared no one, even those who practice "villain beating" in a bid to get rid of bad luck. These practitioners are usually found under "goose neck bridge" or below the Canal Road overpass in Causeway Bay. 

Women have their outdoor stalls with pots of incense and help customers get rid of bad luck or have a particular person in mind they want to punish. The person's picture is given or their name is written down, and the practitioner will chant a few words and then will beat the picture or piece of paper mercilessly with a shoe before giving it to a paper tiger to eat and is then consumed by fire for about HK$60 (US$7.67).

A person's name or picture is hit with a shoe

On the lunar calendar, today is the "insects awakening" day, in which "villain hitting" is considered more effective when insects are awakened by the first thunder of the year. 

These few days the women under the bridge have been busy, but today there were none in sight, as 10 police officers monitored the area. The government had announced on Thursday that the these practitioners would not perform these rituals today in a bid to prevent crowds gathering because of the pandemic.

A villain beater with more than 30 years' experience said she was told by the other practitioners the police had asked them to suspend business around the "awakening", so she decided to close her stall between Friday and Sunday.

"We always work overnight during the 'Insects Awakening'," said the woman surnamed Wong.

She predicted she would be "very busy" when the stall resumed on Monday, estimating she had lost more than HK$10,000 on Saturday alone.

Young people have social grievances to beat out

Wong said she even provided an online "villain hitting" service for customers on the mainland and in Southeast Asia.

"More younger generations have requested the service for a litany of social grievances in the past few years," she said.

Hmmm.... could it be that someone or some people in government don't want to be the target of villain hitting today?

Today there was a significant drop in cases, with 37,529 cases, but 220 deaths, of which 150 were in the last 24 hours. Of the 150 deaths, 109 were not vaccinated...