Tai Hang’s legendary Fire Dragon is about to return in all its glory
The flaming beast is ready to once again turn the neighbourhood’s sleepy streets into a riotous spectacle of sparks
Legend has it that this procession was meant to scare away a plague that devastated what was a Hakka village in 1880. The protective rite has transformed over the years into a mesmerising dance, all fire and fury, involving a dragon that unfurls, coils and explodes each night, carried by dozens of dancers beneath a canopy of as many as 12,000 burning incense sticks.
Each year, the 67-metre-long dragon is painstakingly crafted from straw, requiring a 300-strong troupe to carry it throughout the night. The spectacle usually starts at Lin Fa Kung (“Temple of the Lotus”), Tai Hang’s spiritual heart, where a ritual “awakens” the dragon before it sets off through the maze of narrow lanes. As it snakes through the neighbourhood to the relentless beat of drums, gongs and cymbals, the dragon blankets the streets in good fortune for the year to come.
