The Dragon of Fire @ Mun Shan Fook Tuck Chee 万山福德祠
9 March 2008
Singapore

The Dragon of Fire @ Mun Shan Fook Tuck Chee 万山福德祠

The 2nd day of the Lunar 2nd Month is the birthday of Tou Dei Kong 土地公 (Cantonese for Tu Di Gong) of Mun Shan Fook Tuck Chee temple (Wan Shan Fu De Ci 万山福德祠) and this year, the birthday fell on 9 March 2008. This year coincided with the procession of the Dragon of Fire - For Long 火龍 (Huo Long), in celebration of Tou Dei Kong's birthday, which the temple would hold every two years. This procession is a tradition originating from Guang Dong, China, since 300 years ago. It is said that the Dragon of Fire can ward off the evil and bring in good luck as well as a good harvest.

It took a team from the temple three months to put together this 11-segment straw dragon, using padi straws imported from Guang Dong. This could probably be the only team in Singapore who could make the straw dragon from scratch. Other than using a bit of modern technology and modern materials, the process of building this dragon remains essentially an age-old skill.

The dotting of the Dragon's eyes that was carried out on 9 March 2008 symbolised the act of bringing the magnificent creature to life. Members of the temple, joined in by devotees, then inserted big joss-sticks into the head of the dragon, the body segments and tail, and even on the fire ball (or pearl). It was like adding scales to the body. Fumes of smokes rose to the sky and the body of the dragon came alive with the glow of the joss stick. Viewed from afar, it looked like a dragon with iridescent scales. Shortly thereafter, the dragon began to "twitch" and because of this urgency, the "scales" were fitted in the shortest time possible.

To the booming sounds of the drums and gongs, the dragon rose from its seat, seemingly alive and it twirled around the temple courtyard, to great cheer from the temple devotees. Following tradition, the dragon paid its respect to the deities before making its way around the neighbourhood.

This temple used to be on the site of a village populated by the Cantonese. Although the neighbourhood is now filled with HDB flats and flatted factories, many of these elderly villagers still live in the vicinity and many came back for this occasion. It was after all their village temple, the temple which their great grandparents and grandparents had prayed to during their lifetime, often for blessings and the well being of the family. And so, like in the old times, the good old dragon went out on the inspection of the neighbourhood, clearing it of bad elements and ushering in the good.

Many in Singapore have not seen such a dragon before and so there was a crowd who came to witness this spectacle this year. Among them were children, most of them seeing this special dragon for the first time. A host of photographers swarmed the twirling dragon as fishes would a bigger fish, only moving away when it became too dangerous to be too close.

Having fulfilled its "duty", the dragon returned to the temple to pay its final respect before taking a rest, leaning against the wall of the temple. Devotees then waited with bated breath to bid it farewell. Despite the threatening skies, the dragon started to burn, as the joss sticks did their job, and soon, there was a fiery sight to behold as the dragon ascended to the skies.

It would be two more years before one has the opportunity to see the Dragon of Fire again.

Text by Victor Yue. Photos by Eugene Tang. All Rights reserved.