Note 40 — Chapter V · Chinese Dragon Lore

There is a quaint mixture of religious ideas in the Chinese custom of carrying in procession through the streets, on the 15th of the first month, a dragon made of bamboo, linen, and paper. In front of it is borne a red ball. De Groot says that this is the azure dragon, the head of which rose as a star to usher in spring at the beginning.40 In like manner the Egyptian “spring” is ushered in by the star Sirius, the mother of the sun, from which falls a tear that causes the inundation. But although the red ball may have been a solar symbol, it is also connected with the moon. The Chinese themselves call the ball “The Pearl of Heaven”—that is, “the moon”. An inscription on porcelain brings this out clearly. Mr. Blacker has translated the text below two dragons rushing towards a ball as “A couple of dragons facing the moon”.41 The dragons were not only moon- and sun-“devourers” who caused eclipses, but guardians of these orbs in their capacities as gods of the four quarters.