A traditional parade of paper lanterns lit up the streets of Huatong, an ancient town in Ningde, Fujian province, on the night of Feb 27 as the town celebrated the Longtaitou Festival, or “Dragon Raising its Head” Festival.

Traditional paper lanterns light up Huotong old town as people parade through the streets of the town in Ningde, Fujian province, to celebrate Longtaitou Festival on the night of Feb 27. [Photo by Lin Shanchuan/Xinhua]

Chinese folklore holds it that a dragon god wakes from its winter slumber on the second day of the second month of the Chinese lunar calendar each year. As the deity is believed to control the rain, people pay homage to the dragon on this day and pray for timely rainfall in the new year by staging celebrations of various sorts.

A float and lantern display paying homage to Huang Ju, a government official from the Sui Dynasty (581-618), is carried through the streets of Huotong town in Ningde, Fujian province, on Feb 27. Huang Ju is said to have brought prosperity to the town by launching massive water conservancy and land reclamation projects. [Photo by Lin Shanchuan/Xinhua]

Huotong has held lantern fairs at this time of year for hundreds of years, but local people have a different explanation for the celebration. For Huotong, the festival pays homage to the historical figure Huang Ju, a Sui Dynasty (581-618) government official who is said to have brought prosperity to the town by launching water conservancy and wasteland reclamation projects that were vital to Huotong’s initial development in history.

Thanks to the firm foundations laid by Huang Ju, Huotong later evolved into a major regional transportation hub, taking advantage of the Huotong River that crosses the town west to east.

Local people carry traditional paper lanterns through an ancient street of Huotong town in Ningde, Fujian province, on the night of Feb 27, the night of Longtaitou Festival. [Photo by Lin Shanchuan/Xinhua]