Sending the Dragons Back to Heaven

        According to the Hakka custom, the event of “welcoming the dragons” lasts for three days, starting from January 15^th. After January 17^th, dragon teams must return to the Earth God temples where the dragon eyes were dotted to thank the gods and incinerate the dragons, representing the mission being accomplished so that the dragon god will return to heaven. Dragons whose eyes are dotted are divine; therefore, they need to be burned to return to heaven, or worshipped day and night. Not doing so would be considered irreverent to gods and bring misfortune to the “dragon lords.” To avoid this situation, “dragon lords” usually choose to send the dragons back to heaven by burning them.

        There is a specific ritual and procedure in incinerating the dragons. When a dragon team returns to the Earth God temple, the “dragon lord” will sacrifice the rooster from which he used the blood to dot dragon eyes, meaning “finishing what was started.” The “dragon lord” will pray to the gods with the dragon team, expressing their appreciation; then the dragon team will perform the whole set of the dragon dance in front of the temple for the last time. After that, a layer of paper money is placed on the spot where the dragon is coiled (the tail on the bottom and the head on top, with the dragon ball in its mouth), and more paper money is spread on the dragon. After the “dragon lord” reads the memorial to the gods, he burns the memorial and with it, lights the dragon from the front bottom of its head to the body. Accompanied by deafening sound of drums and firecrackers, the “dragon god” is sent back to heaven.

        It is said that the smoke produced during the incineration of a dragon resembles a coiled dragon rising to the sky, representing the “dragon god” returning to heaven. However, it is believed that the spiral shape of the smoke is just a natural physical phenomenon; because the dragon is made of bamboo, the air flow simply follows the coiled bamboo frame and creates a shape similar to that of a dragon.

 Conclusion

        The event of “welcoming the dragons” should strictly conform to the Hakka custom. It starts from January 15^th and ends on January 17^th (at midnight) when the dragons are incinerated. In early days, if dragon teams still visited households after the 17^th, people would give them red envelopes, in which there was an old calendar page or invalid lottery ticket, as a way to tell them the Lantern Festival was over. And from this originated the Hakka slang: “out-of-date calendar.”

        From pasting the dragons, dotting dragon eyes, and welcoming the dragons to following the dragons, bombing the dragons and sending the dragons back to heaven, we can find from the custom that the position of dragons was placed between mortals and gods by Hakka ancestors. It reflects Hakka people’s emotions and trust in the interaction between gods and common mortals. From inviting the “dragon god” to be a guest in the world of mortals in order to help eliminate misfortunes and bestow blessings, to sending the “dragon god” back to heaven, the custom practiced year after year shows that the relationship between the Hakka group and the “dragon god” is an intimate one. Their ancestors’ longing for the arrival of January 15^th (the Lantern Festival) on the lunar calendar has also been passed down.

        However, times have changed. Young people nowadays do not understand very well the meaning and regulations of “welcoming the dragons.” Some of them even start visiting the public and asking for red envelopes from the first day of the Chinese New Year. This behavior has greatly distorted the original meaning of the custom. As a result, the public no longer looks forward to seeing dragons or welcomes dragons respectfully. We should reflect on this, in the hope of conserving and passing down our unique local culture.

The procedure of sending the dragons back to heaven

Data source

Many thanks to the Miaoli City Office for provision of photos and relevant text.

Contents also referred to the 2003-2008 Miaoli International Cultural Tourism Festival Proposal.

Data compilation: Shih-Min Lin, Wan-Ling Chen

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