Thousands of spectators flocked to the streets of a normally quiet Hong Kong neighborhood on Thursday evening to see the rebirth of the fire dragon dance in the city after its absence for three years due to the pandemic.
Smoke and fire swirl in the air and escape from the 67 meter long dragon body, which is made of thousands of incense sticks. The dragon comes to life thanks to hundreds of volunteers who parade it through the streets of the Tai Hang district in a colorful parade.
“I’m very impatient, everyone is,” Cheung Leung, a member of the Fire Dragon Dance Committee, told AFP.
Cheung, who has taken part in the ritual for two decades, says organizers began the exercises in March, shortly after Hong Kong lifted all coronavirus restrictions.
“The head weighs at least 40 kilos after smoking,” he adds. “The key to good performance is a lot of strength.”
The ritual coincides with the Mid-Autumn Festival, celebrated by millions of people in Asia every year. Much of the Chinese diaspora gathers on this day to have family dinner, light lanterns and eat mooncakes, a traditional Chinese pastry.
According to legend, this dance originated in 1880 to drive out 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 the pandemic.
“It’s a living Hong Kong tradition,” notes Kelly Liu, a recent graduate who took part in the dance for the first time this year.
Leung, a 75-year-old retiree, and his wife hoped to collect dragon incense, which was considered auspicious.
“I’ve been watching this show for many years,” he told AFP.
The ritual was recognized as an intangible cultural heritage by China and Hong Kong in 2011 and 2017. A dedicated museum opened in Tai Hang in 2022.