By Father Joseph Chan Wing-chiu
In recent weeks, I celebrated Sunday Mass at Christ the Worker Parish in Ngau Tau Kok, Kowloon, a Mass centre in the same building as the Caritas Ngau Tau Kok Social Centre. In front of it is a government building which houses a library to raise people’s cultural awareness, a gymnasium to promote the health of the people in the area, and a wet and dry market to provide for their daily needs.
I passed by the market on the ground floor of the building every time I went to the church. I could see people engaged in the different activities of their daily lives. But what has attracted me most was not the images, but the voices of the people bargaining with each other. A memory from 2017 came to mind as soon as the voices reached my ears.
We participated in a three-month interfaith exchange programme in Israel that year. Among the experiences was a trip to a Muslim market in Palestine led by a Muslim guide.
In addition to showing us a variety of cultural shops, the guide also explained the custom of buying and selling. Our guide took us to a small stall in the market, and after browsing for a while, he picked up a wooden sculpture. As soon as he held it in his hand, the stall owner told him it would cost US$20. After several rounds of bargaining in the local language, he took some money out of his waistband and gave it to the shop owner.
Of course, we were curious and asked him how much he had finally paid for his favourite. He asked us to guess how much it was, and we said $15, $10, $8… In the end, one of the group’s older members guessed it right: $3. We were amazed, then talked about our disappointing shopping experiences.
The guide explained that this was an ancient cultural tradition based on biblical references. In the Bible, Abraham bargained with God to reduce the number of righteous people from 50 to 10 as a condition not to destroy the region of Sodom. The people of Palestine, therefore, may tend to demonstrate their delicate relationship with Abraham through bargaining, and they boast that they are the most capable bargainers.
This experience of successful bargaining is more important than getting a good deal, because it shows Abaram’s ability. Some group members asked, “Wouldn’t the shop owner be losing money? The tour guide told us with ease while Abraham was the successful bargainer, who was the one who showed his generosity by accepting the new conditions? We responded in unison “I see!”
Yes, the Palestinians are happy to accept this honour. But after years of observing this culture and incurring losses, the shop owners will raise the price of their goods!
In the process of buying and selling, they have not forgotten their relationship with God. How do we display our faith in our lives?
