2014 Bok Kai Festival

Today I watched active duty Air Force members carry a large Chinese religious figure through the streets of Marysville, in a ceremony honoring the god of a Taoist temple.

Airmen from nearby Beale Air Force Base have volunteered for this duty for years. The figure is a dragon named Hong Wan Lung. The god being honored is Bok Eye, the primary god of Bok Kai Temple.

It was Marysville's 134th annual Bok Kai Parade. A good time was had by all.

The Chinese of Marysville built a temple early in the Gold Rush years to honor the gods they worshipped back in Canton Province. That temple was destroyed in a flood. The current temple was dedicated in 1880. The temple's name Bok Kai means North Stream, for the temple sits on the north bank of the Yuba River. The Taoist god Bok Eye (God of the Dark North) has powers over floods and rain, powers needed to protect a temple sitting next to a river.

The Chinese held annual festivals for their temple and its gods. The first dragon was paraded through the streets of Marysville in 1888. The non-Chinese started to get involved in the fun, what with the firecrackers and drums and bombs and cymbals and all. In 1910, the Marysville Daily Appeal noted that the white citizens were donating funds to defray the cost of the festival, adding "This is perhaps the first time in the history of this country where Christian people help carry out a barbarian or heathen celebration." In 1930, the Yuba County Chamber of Commerce joined the Chinese citizens of Marysville to put on the parade. What was a Chinese religious ceremony became a community event.

Today was my fourth Bok Kai Parade.

The parade started at eleven o'clock. First down D Street came a man holding a banner from the temple, followed by a Chinese man in traditional dress banging two gongs. Then came the leaders of the Chinese societies, the beauty queens, the Air Force honor guard (I held my hat to my heart as the colors passed), the politicians, the marching bands, the Mexican vaqueros (con una vaquera hermosa), the service organizations, the E Clampus Vitus members, and et cetera, until the grand finale, the dragon Hong Wan Lung, held aloft by the airmen. I followed the dragon to the intersection of D Street and 1st Street, the closest point on the parade route to Bok Kai Temple. There the dragon paused to bow its head in homage to the temple. The dragon then went east on 1st Street, turned north on C Street, and stopped at the Hop Sing Tong Building to pay homage while firecrackers went off. It then proceeded north a short distance, and stopped for the final firing of firecrackers.

After a quick lunch at China Moon Restaurant, it was time to watch the lions blessing the businesses. Those establishments wanting a blessing had heads of cabbage or lettuce hanging by a string outside their entrance. Affixed to the heads was a small piece of paper which I think represented a donation. A truck followed the two lions. In the truck bed were young Chinese men and women in red silk outfits banging cymbals and drums. Each lion consisted of two young Chinese men in red silk outfits. The man in the front carried the lion's head. The lion would go into a business and walk about, and then it exited the business backwards in respect. The back member then lifted the front member on his shoulders, allowing the lion to take the head of cabbage or lettuce into its mouth. The back member returned the front member to the ground. The lion then took the leaves apart, and with strong shakes it spewed the leaves into the business three times. This completed the blessing, and the lion would proceed to the next business.

Following the blessing of the businesses, I visited Bok Kai Temple. I had gone in prior to the parade but the crowds were large. Now there were few visitors. People were burning incense and praying to their gods. Food offerings were placed on tables.

Thus ended my Bok Kai experience, a nice slice of California that goes back to the Gold Rush.