The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1905-09-21
TWO DRAGONS
LOOSE TO-DAY
tContinuad from page oneJ

seen on the streets of Honolulu. but
this year not only was the big dragon
bigger than ever but there was a little
dragon who was a sort of vertebrate
joker. He mad none of the dignity OF
the big two hundred and fifty foot mon
ster, but he pranced and cavorted in
manner which made him extremely
popular with, the crowd.
Diliha street, the center of the Chi
nese population, was busy from early
Dawn and the very. vortex of the ex-
citement was the Chinese theater. Here
the different Chinese societies that took
part in the celebration gathered. The
preparations for the start Of the pro-
.cession, if procession it can be called,
were long and elaborate and anyone
unacquainted with the Chinese Lam
guage could be excused for believing
that there were some fifty or a hun
dred different persons each charged
with the entire management of the
function. Orders were shrieked and
shouted, different bodies marched and
countermarched musicians played
blandly on despite the obiurgations Of
a laughing crowd, but somehow or 9TH
er the different items of the procession
got into line and away the crowd went.
The dragons were of course the most
interesting feature of the show. The
big sedate one went ahead with a body
guard composed of Chinese soldiers.
They were variously armed, some hav-
ing pixies of queer design, others hooks
evidently intended for dragging caval-
rymen off their horses. others still, car
ried short sword in each hand and
others had implements which lack
names in English. Many of the soldiers
carried shields with fearsome faces
painted on them. There were just four
who had rifles, old patterned Winches-
tiers. The body-guard wore blue uni
forms with a huge Chinese letter on
the back, black shoes and the usual
conical straw hats. The captain gave
his orders by blowing on a horn and
every now and again his command
seemed to understand him.
There was trouble when it came to
getting. the little dragon out of the
theater. His head was beauty, with
large green eyes which blinked almost
audibly, mouth that dripped bloodily
and dreadful tongue which moved in
the breeze at the will of the energetic
Pake who was handling it. The dragon
refused to come out for long time. In
vain did valiant Chinese try to lncite
his rage with funny looking wands,
there was nothing doing until someone
set off some firecrackers outside Then
amid a regular fusilade the little fell
low emerged. He bolted hither and
thither getting royal salutes wherever
he went. The theory SENS to be that
the firecrackers are to ward off evil
but the little dragon seemed to revel in
firecrackers.
There We're the usual number of floats
in the procession, floats which repre-
sent different phases of Chinese life
and others which had direct reference
to the festival being celebrated
There were many Chinese musicians
who played their amazing Chinese
tunes in their artless Chinese way and
the funny thing about it was that each
Chinese musician had little Hawaiian
boy to carry chair for him. The Ha-
waiian element was strong throughout
the whole procession for the flags and
banners were all carried by laughing
natives, presumably at so much per.
whole celebration with much serious
ness and the contributions made to the
men who carried the treasury were evil
IDENTIFY large. From house to house and
store the throng proceeded and an ever
increasing crowd of Chinese, Hawaii
ans, Japanese and Haoles went along
to see the fun. A large number of Pa
kes came in on the morning train from
the plantations to spend the holiday
here.
A celebration was held by the wealthy
Orientals at the Chinese Club during
the day.
Later in the day, by the time the
procession had reached Nuuanu street,
Willie Crawford informed The Star that
the second dragon was not a dragon
at all but was tiger. AS Willie knows
all about these matters his amendment
has to be accepted by those who saw
the frantic gyrations of the remarkable
beast But all will agree that it might
easily have been a dragon instead of a
tiger if it had tried
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