As I told you before, there are quite a number of parades in Kuching every year.  There was even a parade last Christmas from churches in Kuching.

This time, it was the annually parade of a Taoism god called “Xuan Tian Shang Di” (in Chinese), which means Mysterious Heavenly Upper Emperor.  Every year, this parade takes place on the evening of the 4th day of the 12th month in Chinese Calendar no matter it is raining or not.

It was on last Monday (18 Jan 2010), SiewPeng and I went to watch this parade right after SiewPeng got off from her work at about 8pm.   It was raining but stopped and rained again.  Luckily we found a parking space in a short time, and it was not raining when we stepped out of our car until we got back into our car.

Lion dances and dragon performances are the most typical programs that can be seen in a Chinese temple parade (excluding Wesak day parade).  Sometimes they also perform dangerous actions such as jumping from one high pole to the other.  Further more, the lorries that were carrying them were always moving.

This is another lorry for lion dance performance.

The rain was unpredictable, it was not heavily pouring, but it kept on coming and stopping.  One of the dragons had its head covered by transparent plastic.  Some of the dragons have electrical circuit inside to light up the light on the dragon’s body, that was why they needed to protect it.

Lion dance always come with chimes and drum to guide the steps of the lion.

This is the lion dance drum player.  Look at their hands.

Another dragon, and as you can see, the ball is usually the guide for the dragon to follow.

There was a dragon resting on a truck.

We stood opposite a colourful building.  And there is a corner not far from us.  There were not many people there, mainly because it was raining which reduced the size of the crowd.

These pretty girls with braided hair, Chinese costume and candle lights looked similar to the one I saw last year but I am not sure if they were the same group?  I do not have a strong flash light on my camera.  It was always too dark when I took their photos.  I hope they can improve their lighting by installing a spot light or something on a vehicle in front of them like other teams.  It would be easier for me to take a better picture of them.  :P

There were many pairs of people, 2 in each group, carrying a long stick with a piece of cloth hung on the stick.  Good wishes such as peace, prosperity, “FengTiaoYuShun” (directly translated as “controlled wind and smooth rain” which means good weather), were written on the decorated cloths.

A school band also joined the parade.

Do you know what they are doing?

They are the believers of their God, who were following behind the 3 big incense sticks.  Their god statue was behind them.  Some of the leader were hitting the Chinese gong.

To be continued … … (I still have a few photos of decorated vehicles to show you.)