Prayer for blessings: Devotees placing lamps and dragon-like paraphernalia on tables. — RONNIE CHIN/The Star
BATU GAJAH: A 12m-long “fire dragon” will be parading the streets near the town centre here to heighten the Chinese New Year mood further.
Organised by the Sam Wong Kong Temple, the dragon will be filled with burning joss sticks from head to tail and paraded in a 500m-long procession on Saturday.
Temple chairman Cheah Chee Keong said the parade is part of its seven-day “Heavenly Gate Soaring Dragon Spiritual Event”, which started yesterday, to celebrate the birthday of the Jade Emperor on the ninth day of the Chinese New Year.
“As this year is the Year of the Dragon, we felt that it is only right to have a dragon as part of the festivities. While the dragon requires nine people to carry it, we will need about 30 people taking turns carrying it,” he said when met at the temple.
“With thousands of joss sticks to be placed on the dragon, it will become heavy and require more people to share the load.
“Once the parade ends, the burning joss sticks will be removed and snuffed out and devotees can take these back home and place them on their prayer altar for luck,” he said.
“The dragon will then be set on fire, symbolising the negation of inauspicious vibes.”
Cheah said the spiritual event, mainly for devotees to pray for blessings and dispel bad luck, was held at the temple for the second time.
He said another significant activity during the event is the lighting of “seven stars spiritual lamps” that are placed in a bagua formation.
“It is a ritual that is popular in Taiwan for blessings and replenishing wealth luck,” he said, adding that the event is not common in Malaysia.
“We held the event for the first time last year and received good feedback, as a number of devotees told us that their wishes came true.
“This year, we even have devotees from nine countries, including Canada, Indonesia, China, the United States and the United Kingdom, who made offerings to light up the lamps,” he said, adding that the offerings were made to the temple via its Facebook page.
Cheah said part of the proceeds from the event will be channelled to the Pertubuhan Mempertinggi Akhlak Chan Meng Khor dialysis centre in Ipoh.
“We hope to raise about RM100,000 to buy two dialysis machines. If we are able to raise more than our targeted amount, we will use the money to buy medicines for kidney patients at the centre,” he said.
