Huizhou Dragon Lantern: Flowing Verses of Fire

【Awakening of the Candle Dragon】 As the last glimmer of daylight fades behind the horse-head walls, the threshing ground in front of the ancestral hall suddenly illuminates with hundreds of red lanterns. When the drumbeats pulse like a heartbeat, a fire dragon composed of 368 candle lanterns emerges from the ancestral temple—each lantern a dancing character, strung together into a long poem written upon the earth. 【Whirlpool of Light】 The most breathtaking moment arrives—the "Coiling Dragon." Dancers spin swiftly to the rhythm of the drums, the fire dragon swirling into a vortex of light in the night. The candle flames inside the lanterns stretch into golden arcs from the rapid spinning, transforming the entire dragon into a ribbon of burning silk. Waves of heat, carrying the scent of pine resin, rush toward the spectators, their pupils flickering with tiny flames. 【The Code of Lanterns】 A master craftsman adjusts the lantern frames with calloused fingers: "Each lantern must be layered with seven sheets of bark paper, soaked in tung oil to withstand the wind. The bamboo spine must be made from winter-cut bitter bamboo, and the wicks must be hand-rolled from fresh cotton." The most exquisite is the dragon's eye lantern—a specially crafted glass cover refracts the light, making it blink like a living creature from afar. As the fire dragon returns to its nest, the silhouettes of the lantern bearers are cast upon the mottled white walls. The gradually dimming lanterns scatter like stars across the land—they will be reignited by the same hands next Lantern Festival, continuing this never-ending epic of light.