Tai Hang Fire Dragon at Southorn Playground - 2007-09-25 23h01m08s SN200682 by 惡龍~Stewart
Taking place just before mid-autumn festival each year, the Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance is a beloved tradition in the Tai Hang Town. The practice began more than a century ago, when Tai Hang was a fishing village being afflicted by several sudden maladies. After a typhoon destroyed parts of the village, a plague took over and then a python killed livestock. The village medicine man told the villagers that they could only stop the string of bad luck by performing a fire dance for three days and three nights.
The residents constructed a long, winding dragon out of straw and stuck hundreds of incense sticks into it, then lit the incense. The flames of the blazing dragon roared for three days and three nights and the catastrophes were abated.
Today, the ritual continues as a cherished part of local legend and history. Watching the fire dragon dance procession as it goes through the center of town lights up the imagination, leaving the spectators filled with warm thoughts and glowing hearts.