SIBU: Sibu welcomed the birth of two new lions and a dragon during the ‘eye dotting’ ceremony at Tua Pek Kong Temple yesterday.
BLESSING: Tze Ling paints a red dot on the dragon’s eyes to open its ‘sight’ under the instruction of Yung.
The sponsors, Kong Tze Ling (dragon), Kong Kim Swee and Adriana Kong Mee Ching (lions) performed the ‘eye dotting’ ceremony.
Speaking to The Borneo Post yesterday, the president of Sibu Martial Art (Quan Shu) Association (SMAA) Yung Dak Looh said ‘dotting the eye’ referred to the painting in the eye of the Chinese lion to bring its spirit from heaven and give it life.
“When the lion’s eyes are opened, its ears, mouth and legs are opened as well. This shows that the lion has awakened and has come alive to bless us all,” he said.
Once awakened, the lion becames sacred, thus everyone should respect the creature just like they respect their Gods, he said.
“It is no longer a decorative item, it should be placed at a higher place so that everyone could see,” Yung said.
The ceremony started with the lions and the dragon being laid down with their eyes and mouth shut, waiting to be awakened.
Invited distinguished guests then performed the dotting with symbolic blood or red-cinnabar.
According to Chinese tradition, red represents life, good fortune and prosperity.
First, the mirror on the forehead was dotted to give them life.
It was followed by the eyes for sight, then nose, tongue, ears, horn, back of head, spine and finally the tail.
Then a red ribbon was tied to the lion’s horn – a symbol of courage and honour, to signify that the lions and dragon were tamed.
The red ribbon is also a reminder to the lion and dragon to do only good deeds.
SMAA, established 35 years ago, aimed to preserve Chinese culture and martial arts.
They performed especially during Chinese New Year to raise fund for their yearly activities.
Yung said the association bought new lions to replace the old ones.
He also said that the association had more than 20 lions, including the old ones.