Dance of the fire dragon

Once every 3 years, Sar Kong Mun San Fook Tuck Chee temple in Singapore celebrates the Earth deity with a procession of the fire dragon. The temple, likely the only Cantonese temple in Singapore has a history dating back to the late 1800s. It was built to cater to the needs of the Cantonese migrant workers of that time. The festival begins to the beats of traditional instruments and rituals involving men dressed up as different deities. The fire dragon, nearly 60ft in length is made of a straw ropes and adorned with thousands of lit joss sticks. It is carried by scores of volunteers who bear the hot ash dropping from the joss sticks and manoeuvre the dragon to make it seem like a dance. The dragon makes its way around Sims Drive locality, breathing fire every few minutes, before returning to the temple. These images were shot in 2019.