The ancient Chinese tradition of dragon boat racing is usually launched with a tradition called the "Awakening of the Dragon" or "Eye Dotting" ceremony, which "awakens the spirit of the dragon".
Ceremonial drums
The ritual is performed to rouse the dragons to life. The ceremony is conducted by monks and consists of dotting with paint the eyes of the dragon head on each boat.
The monk bowed in the four directions and incorporated the 5 earth elements in the ceremony while chanting
I fell in love with this little girl
The dragonboats awaits sprinkling
The purpose of the ceremony is to cleanse and bless the area of the competition, the competitors and their boats. It also bestows on the boats and their crew the strength of the dragon and the blessings of the Goddess of the sea.
Dotting the eyes of the dragons
Lights of Courage--this is what this part of the harbour looked like at the beginning.
Sunday at the races...
From across the Inner Harbour
It started drizzling for a bit so we had to put our hoods up
