21-Mar-2025
We watched the Seng Ong Kong deity's birthday procession last year, and were duly impressed. This year's promised to be even bigger.
We'd already seen some of the preparations. The incense dragon had been set up again, opposite the Hong San Si Temple at Wayang Street, and the temple stalls were busy:
And, from the vantage-point of our temporary riverside accommodation, we saw the deity Mazu arriving by boat from Muara Tebas, complete with drums and lights and accompanying patrol boats:
But somehow or other -- I put it down to exhaustion, because we've been manically busy over the last week or so -- we missed the beginning of the procession itself... Which meant we missed the incense dragon...
Never mind, what we saw was great. We're always impressed by these events:
On the way to the parade route
And here's the real thing
This is Mazu herself
Lovely face...
Realizing that the flow of floats had stopped where we were, we headed home via Jalan Padungan. The backed-up float-jam enabled us to get a look at a bit more of the action
The other huge dragon of the day. This one is 150 metres long
There's no doubt about it: These festivities are definitely part of what makes Kuching special.