Thousands of spectators flooded the streets of a usually quiet area of Hong Kong on Thursday evening, eager to see the Fire Dragon Dance reborn in the city, after a three-year absence due to the epidemic.
Smoke and fire rise into the air, escaping from the dragon’s 67-meter-long body, which is made of thousands of incense sticks. The dragon comes to life thanks to hundreds of volunteers who make it move through the streets of Tai Hang district, in a colorful display.
“I’m very impatient, like everyone else,” Cheung Leong, a member of the Fire Dragon Dance Committee, told AFP.
Cheung, who has been participating in the ritual for two decades, says organizers began practicing the ritual in March, shortly after Hong Kong removed all coronavirus restrictions.
He adds: “The weight of the head after applying incense is at least 40 kilograms.” “The key to good performance is to have a lot of strength.”
This ritual coincides with the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is celebrated every year by millions of people in Asia. Many Chinese expatriates gather on this date to have dinner with family, light lanterns, and eat mooncakes, a traditional Chinese pastry.
According to legend, this dance originated in 1880 to expel the plague from Tai Hang, which was then a village, and was only interrupted during the three years when Hong Kong was under Japanese occupation during World War II and during the epidemic.
“It’s a living tradition in Hong Kong,” says Kelly Liu, a recent graduate who attended the dance for the first time this year.
Leung, a 75-year-old retiree, and his wife were hoping to collect some dragon incense, which is considered auspicious.
“I’ve been watching this show for many years,” he told AFP.
The ritual was recognized as intangible cultural heritage by China and Hong Kong in 2011 and 2017 respectively, and a dedicated museum was opened in 2022 in Tai Hang.
