Destiny
Guan Dong Uplands 1427
Episode 5
The festivity started with a thousand explosive bang from the array of colorful fireworks that was fired incessantly for a full three minutes, along with the pealing of bells and the shrill whistling sound of bamboo flutes that was distributed to everyone beforehand. The beating of a hundred drums and clashing cymbals drowns the gasps of the people that gathered around the large lavishly decorated courtyard. Pirouetting slender dancers came along, in flowing silky white gowns that seems to float over the ground-hugging fog, swirling and twirling their way in cadence towards a makeshift platform with their long hand-held ribbons coiling upwards in the wind in a profusion of liberating vibrance. Out from the corner of the courtyard came the lion-masked acrobats in their red and golden finery, sprightly bouncing with the beat of the drums and zipping past along the line of enthralled spectators in an intimidating vivacity, the personification of evil, misfortune and life's adversity. The fire-breather and stilt walkers turned up from nowhere, adding a spectacle of theatrical stupendousness to the event that left the crowd with full wonderment and intoxicating ecstacy. Then all of a sudden the accompanying rhythm abruptly stopped and from the central doorway adjacent to the main gate of the magistrates compound came the titillating yet euphonic sound of the bamboo flutist, the xylophone beaters and the mandolin strummers - all young village ladies in their glittering bead headresses and dazzling pink gowns. Following close behind came the menacing five-man dragon and fire ball dancers that wantonly overwhelmed and smothered all the embodiment of evil in the stand with their sedated prance then swift and vigorous dance as they crashed their way into the compound. Up in the main platform, the benevolent magistrate Li Xing Ka appeared along with his beautiful wife Hwa Ya. Elegantly frocked in an elaborate, gold embellished red vestment, she was followed by Shui Dem who was carrying the young celebrant in her arms. It was right there and then when the drums came back thundering in an earthshaking intensity that the deities of abomination began falling down to their knees as if in supplication while the fireworks spontaneously burst forth in a myriad of colors and explosive resonance. The Buddhist monks, resplendent in their blood red robes and golden headgears, who trooped down purposely from the temple mount to bless the celebration, began to chant earnestly in consonance with the robust booming of their ceremonial horns.
With the of triumph of goodness over evil, the ceremonial ritual came to end with great felicity and thunderous applause.
The abstraction of the ritual observance that was meant to drive away evil spirits and marked the solicitation of a bountiful harvest and economic prosperity used to be celebrated only during the eve of the lunar year. Over time, it became a ceremonial and customary practice especially amongst the privileged few to hold the ritual in any significant occassion to their behest and intention, may it be a royal promotion, matrimony or birth of an heir. And with his reverence to pageantry and elaborate display of wealth and influencial authority, it was apparent that the magistrate had
all the capacity to remunerate the fealty of his constituency with such a bedazzling affair.
Pek Chen, who was piggyback-strapped by his aunt, witnessed it all yet remained unperturbed as his eyes were transfixed by the emanation of a goddess borne in his mothers arms. And, for the very first time in his life, a contentious frown turned his curled lips into a beaming smile.
Destiny was meant to be and the power of the Gods of Summer holds sway.
