Awakening the Spirit of the Dragon
- Port Edgar Dragons
- Apr 9, 2016
- 1 min read
Each year we honour the ancient Chinese tradition of dragon boat racing with an Eye Dotting and Dragon Blessing Ceremony. We invite priests to the waters of the Forth to conduct this ancient and colourful ritual.
The priests set up their altar right on the dock from which paddlers will board dragon boats the next morning. The dragon boats – “dressed” with ornate dragon heads and tails – are lined up. The chanting begins. The priests invoke the Goddess of the Sea, the Saints and the Immortals through chanting, invocation and burning joss sticks. This cleanses and blesses the paddlers and the boats and charges all with the strength of the Dragon.
The priests make offerings to the five elements and directions: joss sticks representing wood for the east, flowers representing metal for the west, candles representing fire for the south, water representing its elemental self for the north and fruit representing the earth for the centre.
The climax of the ceremony is the eye dotting ritual, which officially awakens the Dragon. Ancient Chinese dragon mythology has it that the Dragon sleeps in the mountains and travels to the water when it is awakened. Guest dignitaries assist in this rite, dipping brushes in pots of red cinnabar paint and dabbing the eyes on the boats’ dragon heads.
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