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Sichuan Town Stages Underworld Parade With Pig-Lung Masks and Yellow Smoke
An ancient town in Sichuan holds an annual intangible cultural heritage parade in which residents dress as underworld deities, led by the Chicken-Footed God in a fresh pig lung mask, before dragon dances close the day.
The procession takes place once a year on the 28th day of the fifth lunar month, when the streets are transformed into what organizers describe as a border between the yin and yang realms.
Emerging from billowing clouds of yellow smoke, participants appear costumed as the Judges of the Underworld, the mythical Ox-Head and Horse-Face, and the Black and White Impermanence. The figure of the Chicken-Footed God wears a mask made from a fresh pig lung, a detail presented as a means of warding off evil spirits.
The event is billed as an intangible cultural heritage parade staged by local townspeople, who take on the roles of the underworld characters for the day.
After the supernatural figures have made their pass through the streets, the mood shifts. Dragon dances and brightly colored floats take over, closing the event with a dose of fortune and good omens for the year ahead.