Drunken Dragon Festival - May / 8th day 4th Moon
This is a very strange festival if compared with the other major Chinese festivals.
It dates from the misty past from the Kangxi Kingdom of the Qing Dynasty.
Praying to the Buddha for help against a disastrous plague, villagers were
carrying his statue when suddenly a giant python leaped out of the river
on to the bank, blocking the way.
A Buddhist monk slashed at the monster, cutting it into three pieces
which were tossed into the river.
The pieces writhed about and then, amid a great wind and thunder,
they flew up into the sky.Miraculously,
the people recovered from the plague and the turf which has been stained
with the creature's blood proved to be unusually fertile.
Believing that they had been saved by a divine dragon,
the people carved its image and at the annual festival
when the Buddha is bathed they drank wildly and danced with the dragon.