Hong Kong Snapshot (33) (With Video) – Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance in Moon Festivial 香港随拍(33) (附有视频) – 大坑舞火龙，舞火龙变成了追火龙……

aaronli (73)in #cn • 7 years ago

祝大家中秋節快樂！雖然中秋節已經過去了，但天上的月依舊圓。中秋節這兩天，我本打算到大坑一睹舞火龍的盛況並分享給大家，但最後我由欣賞舞火龍變成了追火龍……

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival (moon festival)! Although the festival has passed, the moon is still as beautiful as before. In the holiday of the moon festival, I went to Tai Hang to enjoy the wonderful performance of Fire Dragon Dance. But finally I became chasing the tail of the fire dragon….

中秋舞火龍的活動源於一百多年前的大坑村，今年已經是第138年了。大坑村位於香港島銅鑼灣的東面，在1880年的中秋前夕，颱風吹襲大坑村，颱風過後，村民發現了一條大蠎蛇吞食了村中的家禽，於是村民們便合力把它打死，並將蛇送到警署。豈料第二天，死蛇不見了，大坑村發生瘟疫，很多村民病世，正當村民們枉恐不安時，當晚有一位長老得仙人報夢，說只要在中秋節晚上，用草紥成一條龍並插滿香枝，合村民之力舞動火龍繞村遊走及於炮竹，就可驅除瘟疫。

This year is the 138th anniversary of Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance. Tai Hang is located at HK Island, east of Causeway Bay. In 1880, Tai Hang was a small village. There was typhoon just before the moon festival. After that, the villagers found a big python and killed it. The day after, the body of the dead python disappeared and there was pandemic in the village causing many people died. That night, an elder dreamed of a god telling him to make a big fire dragon with incense and dance it by all the villagers.

火龍龍頭 Dragon Head (from Tai Kun Pao)

火龍全貌 The Fire Dragon (from MingPao)

村民跟隨長老的夢而行，結果真的軀除了瘟疫，於是大坑村的村民每年都會在中秋節舞火龍。其實，由於炮竹含有琉璜白藥，加上香火確能軀瘟疫，不過村民們以為神明真的顯靈，就將這習俗一代一代的延續下去。

He followed what the god said and the pandemic really went away. Since then, the villagers of Tai Hang held the Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance every year.

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(photo from HK tourism board)

經過100年，舞火龍已成為香港中秋節的一個盛大活動，在2011年更被列入第三批中國國家級非物質文化遺產。今天的火龍製作極為盛大，火龍全長足有67米，共有31節，需要300名健兒才能舞動，單單是龍頭而達48公斤，而整條龍身上的線香更有7萬4千枝！大坑村的村民每年都要用一個月的時間準備火龍，在活動前的插香就已花上他們接近1小時的時間。

100 years passed and Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance is already a world-famous event. In 2011, the event is listed as the China’s Intangible Cultural Heritage. Today, the fire dragon has a body with 67 meters long consisting of 31 sections. There are over 70000 incenses on the body of the dragon! Only the dragon head weights 48kg. It is danced by a team of 300 people. They spend a month to finish the making of the fire dragon.

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(photo from HK tourism board)

在中國傳統上，本來只有大坑村的男性才能舞火龍，但今天已放寛為有興趣參與的男士，而在2014年更出現了第一位女鼓手，可能在未來，我們會見到女士們舞火龍。

In tradition, only men of Tai Hang Village can join the dragon team. But today all men interested can join it. In 2014, the team got the first female drummer. I think we may be able to see the first female dragon team crew in the future.

今天的舞火龍已是聞名中外的活動，影星曉治積曼 (Hugh Jackman)在2015年就曾出席舞火龍活動，所以每年的舞火龍都吸引了大批本地及外地遊客參觀，所以我在中秋節當晚，根本只能見到龍尾……

The Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance is now very famous. In 2015, super star Hugh Jackman also joined the event. So now there are a lot of local and tourist come to Tai Hang and visit the event. In the crowd of people, I could only see the dragon tail……

(photo from Mingpao)

我在活動開始前才到達大坑，中途而被人群擋住，但幸好我剛好在龍尾的部份，見到健兒把線香插到龍尾上。

When I arrived Tai Hang, I was blocked by the people but luckily I could see the dragon tail and the dancers are putting incenses to the tail.

不多久，鼓聲響起，龍尾起來舞動了！舞動了一回，走了……

After a while, we heard the drum and the dragon tail started dancing! And after a while, it left…..

由於火龍會在大坑的街道到處遊走，我跟隨人群到處走去追尋火龍，可惜周圍也被封路了，左穿右插下我又再聽到鼓聲，再一次見到龍尾……這時的我決定放棄，由於舞火龍會連舞四天，這天才是第二天，我打算在第三天再來，過了中秋應該沒有這麼多人吧！臨走時還見到人群處處……

The Fire Dragon would go over all the streets in Tai Hang and I tried to find the dragon. But all roads and streets were blocked by the police. I weaved through and finally I could see……the tail again…….As the event total had four days, I decided to come again in the next day.

第三天來了，我提早了一小時來到大坑，但原來人群並沒有少……在路中我見到健兒在運送還沒插香的火龍，還有美女鼓手，不過見到的火龍還是龍尾……

In the next day, I arrived Tai Hang 1 hour earlier but there were still many people……In the street I saw the team moving the dragon to the event venue but again I could only see the tail…..

聰明的我去到了浣沙街，舞火龍開始的地方，只見人頭湧湧，我好不容易擠到比較前的位置，拍下了以下的照片。然後！舞火龍開始了！前面的人群全都舉起手機或相機拍照，我見到的只有手…….不過，我高舉的運動相機還是拍到了一些視頻，大家可以文末的視頻欣賞一下火龍盛況。

This time I went to Wun Sha Street where the dragon started. There were many people and I tried my best to get a better place, and took the photos below. Then the Fire Dragon Dance started! All the people in front of me raised their hands with their phones and cameras. I could only see hands! But my action cam can still shoot the dance. You may take a look at the video at the end of the article to enjoy the dance.

火龍舞了一回就開始巡行了，我亦不想再次追龍就離開了，這時才有心思欣賞附近街道的花牌和燈飾。至於你問我下年會否再來？應該不會了哈哈，下年我會去薄扶林村！欣賞另一條火龍！下年再跟大家介紹！

After dancing for while, the dragon started to parade. I didn’t want to chase the dragon again so I left. At this moment I started enjoy the decoration of the moon festival around. Will I visit the festival again next year? Probably not. I will go to Pok Fu Lam to visit the Po k Fu Lam Fire Dragon Dance! See you next year!