To celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holiday, the Southern District Community Association hosted the "Aberdeen Fire Dragon Festival" on Oct. 6 in Aberdeen, Hong Kong. The event attracted a large crowd of spectators.
At 8:00 p.m., the dragon dance team held a kickoff ceremony at Aberdeen Centre Square. After the officiating guests performed the traditional rituals of "dotting the eyes," the dragon dance team and Yingge dance team officially set off at 8:30 p.m. The fire dragon parade was divided into two segments: starting from the square to Chengtu Road, and then continuing on Wah Fu Road to Waterfall Bay by truck.
This year's parade brought together four major dragon and lion dance sports associations, as well as students from five schools in the Southern District. The fire dragon team was composed of participants spanning three generations—elders, adults, and youth. Apart from the traditional fire dragon, the event featured innovative designs such as "Lantern Dragon," "Illuminated Dragon," and "Stylized Dragon," incorporating electric lighting effects, which intrigued and delighted the audience.
Southern District Councilor Luke Cheung participated as part of the dragon dance team throughout the event. However, he regretfully noted that, as the organizer and team leader, he did not have the chance to experience dancing the fire dragon himself. He pointed out that this year's event saw the participation of more schools, increasing from two last year to five, with nearly 500 participants in total. Reflecting on the event's growth, he shared how it evolved from a small children's lion dance team in its early days to today's collaboration with multiple schools. He hopes that more schools will join next year to continue passing on this traditional cultural heritage through the dragon dance.
A student from SKH Chi Fu Chi Nam Primary School, who participated with his friends, expressed his honor to be part of the dragon dance performance. Although the process was tiring, he was thrilled to learn about the history of HK and the motherland through the dragon dance. Noticing the involvement of many schools this year, he commented that the greater the number of participants, the more fun and lively the event became, and he looks forward to joining again next year.
James, a 46-year-old resident of Lamma Island who was born and raised in HK, shared his excitement about leading the fire dragon for the first time, even though he was no stranger to fire dragon dances. His daughter participated as a member of the dragon dance team, which gave him the opportunity to join as well. He expressed how unique the experience felt, especially when holding the dragon's head, which was particularly heavy. He described the moment people reached out to touch the fire dragon as almost sacred, giving him a sense of great responsibility.
Another spectator, Mr. Cheung, brought his two pet parrots to watch the fire dragon performance. He shared that he lives in Kowloon and rarely visits HK Island, let alone watches a fire dragon dance. This time, he came specially to Aberdeen for the event and praised the performance as spectacular and lively. Laughing, he said that since the fire dragon has a history of over a century, he wanted his parrots to experience a piece of HK's traditional culture as well.
After nearly two hours of continuous performances, the Yingge dance team concluded their segment around 10:00 p.m. Many spectators rushed to take photos with them. One performer, Mr. Choi, shared his passion for Yingge dance. Although he works in Shenzhen selling electronic products, he transforms into a Yingge dancer whenever there's an event. He deeply appreciated the warm reception from HK citizens and enthusiastically declared with his teammates: "We'll be back next time!"
(Journalist: Liu Honglin; English Editor: Zoey SUN)
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