I have been showing two posts – one with burning conical incense and the other one with joss sticks and the swirl of smoke.
I was, in fact, putting the carriage before the horse.
What I should have done was first introduce how the temple looks like before showing the details of the interior.
In this post, I will be trying to show what you would see if you walk from the entrance towards the interior.
Man Mo Temple is a temple for the worship of the civil or literature god Man Tai (文帝) / Man Cheong （文昌） and the martial god Mo Tai (武帝) / Kwan Tai (關帝). The two gods were popularly patronized by scholars and students seeking progress in their study or ranking in the civil examinations in the Ming and Qing dynasties. There are several Man Mo Temples in Hong Kong, the best known of which is the temple in Sheung Wan, the one shown in my photos.
You will see that the conical incense are hung up high, with circular pans to collect any falling ashes from the incense. In between the pans, the sunlight comes through at an angle, creating a surreal scene.
On the floor are two big bronze bowls, full of sand and ashes, inserted through here are the joss sticks, some small ones and some really large ones.
In the coming posts, I will post more pictures showing details of the incense and clouds of smoke!
retireediary 