The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-09-24
FULL MOON
FESTIVAL
Gorgeous Dragon Par
AIDE Provided By
Chinese.


general, appearance, the grand parade
yesterday of Chinese in honor of the
Full Moon. was one which lined the
streets through which it passed with
hundreds of spectators, both Oriental
and foreign. The great. undulating body
of the papier-mache dragon borne aloft by
a score of costumed celestials, an awe
some thing to the children, was one of
the principal attractions. The route was
marked by explosions of giant hrecrack-
ers and miniature bombs which filled
the aid with smoke and shreds of red
and gilt paper while the welkin was
split with the strident music of numer-
Gus Chinese bands.
The festival of the Full Moon is ore
of the most important, outside of New
Years and the birthday of the emperor
to the queue-wearers. 1t is so import
ant that nothing short of a procession
and the display of the dragon will suf-
fee to honor it.
At 10 o'clock yesterday morning
Liliha street between King and Vine
ward was a mass of Chinese. Along the
Waikiki curb there was an alleged par
ade formation, but it was not until II
o'clock that the procession began to get
into shape Then with a clashing of
symba1s, ear-splitting screeches of
hageolets and pounding of drums and
discharge of fireworks. the procession
was started. In the meantime half a
dozen marshals. mounted on lively
horses, and each wearing a wide
brin1med hat adorned with velvet Chin
ese characters embroidered with span
giles, rushed madly UP and down the
street The ordinary Chinese is not
with a street lined with a constantly
moving throng, all manner of noise and
flashing of colors to annov his mount,
he makes but a poor show However,
| these marshals finally got the parade
started.
First came lantern bearers, then stand
ard bearers pounding. gongs, then on
horseback half a dozen actors attired In
gorgeous gold-embroidered costumes,
then more gong bearers. A wagonette
| filled with Chinese musicians attired III
white duck came next and made noisy
| impression. A float was the next fea-
| ture This was toy house of Chinese
| design in which sat four children sit
ting Wis. a Wis in pairs. They were
| prettily costumed, their faces painted
and whitened. Two or three more floats
| the inmates wearing gold embroidered
| costumes, and many with their faces hid
! den behind ugly masks.
Then came the dragon, its great red
yellow and blue stripped and notified
| head, bobbing and shifting about as II
| hungry for pyrotechnics, for whenever
! firecrackers went off it plunged that
way and wagged its head. This dragon
| with gold embroidered sides which gilt
| tered in the sunlight, was ninety-eight
feet in length. 1t was divided into about
| twenty papier-mache sections and over
| the whole length was drawn cloth
| body. Each section was borne aloft by
a gaily dressed Chinese whose indi-
! vidual movements caused the body to
undulate in a realistic snaky manner.
AT some distance behind this dignified
| dragon and preceded by dragon-Hag,
came a smaller dragon, with ears that
wiggled and eyeballs that swung about.
This dragon pirouetted and cavorted
i before stores in a wonderful manner,
which did not fail to draw shekels from
the pockets of the storekeepers and
other spectators Behind this monster
came a cohort of Chinese soldiers, their
uniforms copied after the imperial army
uniform. Some bore rifles, but for the
most part this imitation soldiery bore
weapons which recalled ancient Roman
DAYS There were spears, instruments
which looked like cane knives and cruel
looking tridents Surrounding this corps
was detachment of men wearing large
brimmed, ouaintly-embroide hats.
At the new fish market on King street
great strings of fiirecrackers and bombs
were exploded and on every street in
Chinatown the discharge of frecrackers
was incesSant.
All the club houses kept open house
during the day and evening and there
was great rejoicing throughout the
Chinese colony
The procession was one of the most
unique ever presented by the Chinese in
this city.
HOW TO AVOID THE DANGERS
on cor -Evaryone rol1st realize