Fire Dragon Dance
Tai Hang Fire Dragon is a traditional custom of Tai Hang, which appeared as early as the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is rumoured that on the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival in 1880, a typhoon hit a large python killing livestock in the village and was finally shot dead by the villagers. The next day, the body of the python disappeared and the plague occurred, and many villagers died of illness. It is rumoured that this python is the son of the dragon king, and it deliberately avenges the epidemic. Later, another old man claimed to have a divine dream, saying that the sea dragon king was most afraid of fire dragons, so the Dragon danced three nights in a row during the Mid-Autumn Festival. After this method worked, the villagers have set up fire dragons to patrol the whole village every year to ensure the safety of the country.
The so-called fire dragon is actually made of linen and straw. The dragon is 220 feet long and divided into 32 knots. When dancing Fire Dragon, the dragon body will be full of fragrance branches, dancing at night, which is strange. The fire dragon dance ceremony can be roughly divided into three parts: Fire Dragon Crossing Bridge, Fire Dragon Entangled Double Column, and Coiled Fire Dragon Reunion. After the program, the traditional fire dragon will throw into Causeway, Bay Typhoon Shelter, symbolising "Dragon Returns to the Sea". In recent years, due to environmental protection, it has become a burning dragon, which has become a flying dragon in the sky. The whole ceremony takes about three to four hours, whether or not the residents of the crater can participate.
Tai Hang Fire Dragon has been held for more than 100 years and has great cultural significance. In 2011, Tai Hang Fire Dragon was included in the third batch of national non-representative items.
Dragon dancers are waving dragon bodies (picture source: shutterstock)