We happen to live right next door to one of the oldest Chinese temples in the city. It is lovely, quiet, serene and the smell of fresh incense wafting from its compound on my morning commute to the subway station is very appreciated.
However my views of this temple have changed due to some rather perturbing events I witnessed today.
On my walk home from the MRT station after a very gratifiying travel-book binge at the local bookstore, I heard drumming and general rowdiness coming from the temple. Great- I think to myself- would be great to see something unique and cultural on an otherwise slothful and indulgent Saturday.
In the distance I spotted this dragon puppet thingie. Cool right? Dragon dancing sounds nice. Then I took note of the uniforms the celebrants were wearing...
OK, florescent orange and yellow is a bold choice- but fine, who am I to judge. But then I noticed the more interesting aspect of their attire....
Proudly sponsored by Huap Lian Transportation Pte. Ltd. For this tid bit, I have no explanation. But don't worry- it gets even stranger.
This looks innocuous enough. Costumed woman dancing. Man clad in yellow viscously snapping a bull whip in her general direction.....
On closer inspection......
Look closely... what is strange about this dancer....
Thats right, in addition to what can only be described as incredibly bizarre and potentially drug influenced dancing, all of the female dancers had pacifiers in their mouths...
After some intense googling in hopes of enlightenment about this celebration, I have no explanation for this dragon/pacifier celebration.
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