parade | Blue Lapis Road

DRAGON BOAT WATER PARADE (龍舟遊涌), Tai O (大澳), Hong Kong

Under the scotching sun in the summer morning of Dragon Boat Festival (端午節), former villagers and outside visitors gather along the the narrow waterways and mangrove channels of Tai O to take part in the annual Dragon Boat Water Parade and Race. The sleepy and somewhat touristy fishing village once again fills with laughter and rhythmic drum beats, reminding elder villagers how vibrant Tai O fishing village used to be decades ago. Now a popular sporting and recreational event that held in many cities around the world, dragon boat is actually originated right here, from the fishing communities in the Pearl River Delta where Hong Kong is located.

In the old days, young men in fishing communities in the region, like Tai O, would volunteer to join the Dragon Boat Festival. While most would enter the boat race, a small group would participate in the religious parade, in which small statues of local deities are brought out from temples and paraded around the village in decorated dragon boats. The dragon ritual is meant to cast away evil spirits in the village with heavy drum beats, synchronized paddling, and incense smoke. Unlike modern dragon boats made of lightweight materials such as fiberglass or carbon fiber, traditional dragon boats are constructed using teak wood. Each 65-ft boat takes 32 paddlers, 2 drummers, 1 gong striker, and 1 steerer. During the Dragon Boat Festival, modern dragon boat races are held in rivers, beaches and the harbour allover Hong Kong. Yet to get a taste of century-old dragon boat tradition, there is no better place than Tai O, where old rituals are still performed every year.

After an hour of ferry and 40 minutes of bus, we finally arrived at Tai O where the Dragon Boat Water Parade was about to begin at 10am. Organizers were busy putting on the last bits of decorations onto the traditional dragon boats.

Flanked both sides by old stilt houses, the main waterways of Tai O provide the best setting for the dragon boat parade.

Decorated deity boat was always led by a long traditional dragon boat.

The Tai Chung Bridge opened up only in the Dragon Boat Festival for the passing deity boats.

The busy Tai Chung Bridge often serves as the visual focus of the entire fishing village of Tai O.

Despite the annual parade, fishermen were still selling fresh seafood right by the waterfront.

Statues of deity from three different temples were brought out for the parade.

Behind the designated dragon boat, the colourful deity boat was led around the waterway network.

Many paddlers of the traditional dragon boats came from the older generation of the local Tai O villagers.

The river mouth served as the main venue for dragon boat races.

Larger fishing boats served as the base of different racing teams.

It was fun to watch the dragon boat race from the spectator jetty at the waterfront.

All paddlers gave their best effort during the dragon boat race.

One of the most important aspect of dragon boat paddling is the quality of their synchronized movements.

The exciting shouts of loyal supporters offers outside visitors a glimpse of the community spirit of Tai O.

At the end, an award ceremony was held at the spectator area.

While the dragon boat race captivated the hearts of spectators at the river mouth, the deity boats and traditional dragon boats continued to parade around Tai O’s waterways.

At around noontime, the dragon boat parade was coming to an end.

Wooden dragon boats were once again put into storage along the waterways.

Until next year’s Dragon Boat Festival, visitors coming to Tai O can visit the small community museum to learn more about the traditions of dragon boat.

June 28, 2019 | Categories: Hong Kong, Outlying Islands | Tags: boat, dragon, Drum, 遊涌, 龍舟, fishing, heritage, Hong Kong, parade, race, Tai O, tradition, village, water, 大澳 | Leave a comment

PARADE OF FLOATS (飄色), Cheung Chau Bun Festival (長洲太平清醮), Hong Kong

In less than an hour of ferry from the commercial centre of Hong Kong lies the island of Cheung Chau, home to a former fishing community, a legendary pirate treasure trove, dozens of seafood restaurants, and the biggest annual Taoist Dajiao (打醮) festivals in Hong Kong, the Bun Festival (太平清醮). Originated from a series of religious rituals seeking for protection from local deities after a plague broke out in the 19th century, the Bun Festival held annually on Buddha’s Birthday has been simplified and evolved into one of Hong Kong’s most famous intangible cultural heritage events, along with Tai Hang’s Fire Dragon Festival, Tai O Dragon Boat Water Parade, etc.

In 2014, I came to Cheung Chau during the Bun Festival to watch the Bun Snatching Race at night. This time, we arrived at Cheung Chau during the day to watch the afternoon parade. Known as the Parade of Floats (飄色), the parade included a combination of religious statues of deities, lion and qilin (麒麟) dances, and children dressed in costumes raised in mid air.

The parade began at Pak Tai Temple, the patron god of the fishermen community of Cheung Chau.

In the back lanes we chanced upon a workshop making the festival’s fortune bun. The workshop owner suggested the plaza where the parade groups would make a turn as ideal spot to watch the parade.

We met a local lady at the plaza and she kindly found us a chair at the front row sitting right beside her. The first thing that caught our eyes was a qilin dance from one of the street communities on the island.

Basically the parade consisted of groups from different street communities of Cheung Chau.

Small statues of deities were taken out from temples and paraded around the main streets of the island.

Local children were dressed in traditional costumes and gave out souvenirs.

All parading groups were dressed in vivid colours.

Beautiful banners of the festival are taken out once a year.

Known as Parade of Floats (飄色), selected children are dressed in different costumes and raised with hidden metal supports. Along with the ones in traditional costumes, each year some children would dress in costumes related to contemporary trends or current affairs.

This year, two were dressed like the chief executive of Hong Kong, one as Theresa May, one Buddha, one Super Mario, a group of characters from Jin Yong (金庸)’s The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber (倚天屠龍記), etc.

A girl dressed in costume related to a historical TV series.

Another girl dressed as the chief executive of Hong Kong.

Two children dressed like a traditional princess.

Another one dressed like Super Mario.

Though the traditional lion dances on bamboo were even more impressive.

Brave lion dancer performed different moves on tall bamboo poles that were controlled and moved by his other teammates on the ground.

Dancing traditional large flags were also fun to watch.

The parade was a mixture of traditional heritage, current affairs, and community groups.

Parade band dressed in yellow and black performed along the street of Cheung Chau.

Inevitably, buns were used as a parade feature.

After the parade, we met the qilin dance group once again in the side street.

Approaching sunset, we returned to the forecourt in front of Pak Tai Temple.

Similar to 2014, there were three big traditional paper figures in the festival ground.

Some of the paper figures were moved to the waterfront for the burning rituals.

By the sea, offerings and lanterns were placed for all wandering ghosts.

June 9, 2019 | Categories: Hong Kong, Outlying Islands | Tags: bun, Cheung Chau, community, Dajiao, 長洲, 飄色, Festival, float, heritage, Hong Kong, island, parade, tradition, 太平清醮, 打醮 | 1 Comment

DAY 34 (1 OF 2) – CIVIC PARADE, POTOSI, BOLIVIA

November 10th marks the Anniversary of Potosi. Yesterday’s civic celebration resumed this morning with more groups parading through Calle Hoyos. We were glad to encounter the event, but the downside was that most museums, banks and restaurants would be closed today and tomorrow, meaning that we would not be able to visit the Casa Nacional de Moneda (National Mint) during our stay in Potosi.