We don’t see many marches in the Soho/Noho themed overpriced-dining concept hub zone up the hill from Central; they usually take place in the far more spacious environs of Victoria Park or Tamar. But I encountered a pretty big one snaking its way up alongside the Mid-Levels Escalator yesterday afternoon. Unlike most demonstrations in Hong Kong, this one wasn’t protesting against – or even for – anything.
Alert news-watchers will recall that the Pope recently unashamedly went all-out for the women’s, Latino, Native American, Asian and other oppressed/minority votes by canonizing a variety of new saints, including one or more females, southern Europeans, Mohawks and Filipinos. The latter were especially pleased to see the Vatican tick their box, and it was local Filipinos parading up the hill yesterday. I’m guessing their route was something like Statue Square to the Catholic Cathedral on Caine Road.
They sang hymns, recited the Hail Mary, carried doll-like Virgin Marys and pictures of the suspiciously cool-looking martyr Saint Pedro Calungsod (played by Leonardo DeCaprio), and waited patiently as the police escorted them in packets up and across the narrow streets. Walking down against the flow, I would guess there must have been several thousand, scrappily photographed: 1) coming up from Staunton Street, 2) on Cochrane Street coming up to Lyndhurst Terrace and Hollywood Road, 3) the bottom of Cochrane near Stanley Street and 4) stretching back along Queens Road at least 200 yards past whatever Lane Crawford is these days…
I guess you have to be a saint to live in the squalor and desperation of Soho – Hong Kong’s Smoky Mountain, where the rubbish is replaced by beauty salons, fake eateries, convenience stores, dog urine stains, phony art (Phart) and antiques.
That “doll-like Virgin Mary” is in fact Santo Niño — the Christ child, much beloved by Pinoys. Most homes will have one on a shelf somewhere.