Prayers are said and offerings are given to the God of the Sea,

part of a week-long tribute that began over 100 years ago to ward off pirates and plague, but not the rain.

Thunderstorms forced Hong Kong officials to cancel the main event of this festival, a race up a 50 foot tower covered with buns.

But that doesn't dampen the appetite for them, long considered a symbol of good luck.

On Cheung Chau this holiday is the biggest event of the year, and for this one bakery, it's the busiest time of year.

Local bakery, Kwok Kam Kee, has been making the festival 's delicious highlight for 40 years.

Every day we wake up. We make Ping An buns.

Shop owner, Kwok Kam Chuen, says around festival time, that means 10, 000 buns a day.

His workers cram into 700 square feet of space, rolling out dough, adding fillings like sesame or lotus paste,

before pulling the finished buns out of the steamer, up to 200 at a time.

Each one is stamped with the Chinese characters for peace.

Customers hand over about one US dollar per bun, and then... they're gone.

It's easily Kwok 's most profitable time of the year.

These eight to ten days, it's like doing eight to ten months of business.

Contestants are meant to grab buns as they race to the top of this tower.

The more buns you get and the higher you go, the better your luck.

While contestants may have lost their shot at setting their luck for the year, at least for Kwok the business of buns has still paid off.