12-Mar-2024
This particular procession is held every three years to commemorate the founding of what is one of Kuching's oldest temples. But three years ago, of course, we were deep in the miseries of covid. So it has actually not been held for six years. And six years ago, we missed it, because we had headed up to Sibu.
So, yesterday, we had our first experience of this grand-daddy of parades.
The head of the parade. There was LOTS more to come...
I'm probably repeating myself, but we never tire of these events...
I love the racket. No amount of clanging, pounding, and blaring is ever enough:
This group always does a great drum performance
But there were plenty of other musical offerings
I love the idea of giving the gods a good time:
The stars of the show
I love the colour and the brightness and the energy.
I love the banners and the flags. I love the way that the floats range from the push cart to the big rig:
I love the way all ethnicities get involved. I love the way so many young people are on board with it all. I love the warmth and enthusiasm of the watching crowd.
Start 'em young...
My heart warms to every lion, dragon, and random animated creature:
Endlessly cuddly...
Waiting out one of the parade jams
Awesome dragons
The 222-feet-long piece de resistance
All kinds of creatures...
This guy usually performs with his gorilla friend down on the waterfront of an evening. But he was welcomed on board
These amphibians were real stars... When the procession got jammed up, they kept us royally entertained with their froggy shimmy. Hope they made it round the whole circuit without running out of energy...
A good way to help your incense stick along a bit... My dad would definitely have approved
We watched the entire length of the procession, and then headed for Jalan Padungan for a coffee. As we headed home, the floats were still processing round the circuit, crowds of people were out enjoying the action, and the fireworks were booming all around us.
And today:
A dragon resting, the morning after the night before