To blow or wave

THE “awakening the dragon” ceremony in Henley that we report on elsewhere this week featured a number of acts of tradition.

Shifu Julian Dale, from the Eagle Claw Kung Fu School in Maidenhead, guided the Henley Dragon Boat Club paddlers through the ceremony but was unhappy with the way some of them extinguished their incense sticks.

They had to hold them between their hands while bowing to the club’s new boat as a sign of respect for the dragon. But some team members blew on their sticks instead of waving them in the air.

Julian said this was like spitting on the dragon and a sign of disrespect!